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WORLD SPORT

Heavy crashes in women's downhill

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Montillet-Carles' teammate and coach react to her crash.

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SAN SICARIO, Italy (Reuters) -- Defending Olympic downhill champion Carole Montillet-Carles, U.S. medal hopeful Lindsey Kildow and Canadian Allison Forsyth were all taken to hospital after crashing in Winter Games training on Monday.

Montillet's defense of her title on Wednesday is now in doubt, French team technical director Gerard Rougier said.

"It is going to be hard for her to make it," he said. "She is going to have ultra-sound on her stomach and have her back checked because of a vertebra problem."

Kildow was flown to hospital in Turin after crashing awkwardly halfway down the Fraiteve Olympic piste.

Team doctors initially feared that she had suffered a back injury but later said X-ray examinations had shown no damage.

"The X-rays are normal," said U.S. Olympic Committee medical director Ed Ryan, who saw Kildow in hospital.

"The decision now is how long she stays in the hospital," Ryan said on the U.S. ski team's website.

"There's also a question about whether she banged her head. She is complaining of back pain, but that's normal. We will evaluate further and monitor her condition."

Kildow, who won two World Cup downhills in December and had hoped to earn her first Olympic medal in Wednesday's downhill, did the splits after losing control halfway down the course.

She tumbled through the air before sliding to a halt.

Montillet, who has not won a World Cup race this season, veered off course as she came off a jump just 20 seconds into the second official training run and crashed heavily into safety netting.

Onlookers rushed to her aid and she was taken down the course on a stretcher and transferred to the clinic at the athletes' village in nearby Sestriere.

Forsyth, a giant slalom specialist who won a world championship bronze medal in 2003, was taken to the same hospital as Kildow.

A hospital statement said a scan showed she had damaged knee ligaments and would be discharged later on Monday with a knee brace.

Alpine ski organizers have redesigned the Fraiteve course to make it more difficult after racers complained last year at a World Cup event that it was not challenging enough.

At just over 3km, the course is the longest on the women's circuit. The women have one more scheduled training run, on Tuesday, before the race.

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