Olympics-Alpine Skiing-Vonn set to switch talk from shin to win

WHISTLER Feb 16 (Reuters) - The scare over her shin injury has subsided and now favourite Lindsey Vonn is ready to go for gold in Wednesday's women's downhill when she will take on her German rival Maria Riesch.

"I'm definitely antsy to get racing. I'm a fighter and I just want to get out there and start competing," Vonn said on Tuesday.

The American, who has won five out of six World Cup downhills this season, tested out her painfully bruised shin in a split-run training session on Monday and came through without any major problems.

Vonn was already leaning towards skipping Tuesday's training before overnight snow led to the cancellation of the final warm-up run.

"I was really actually happy that we got another day off today (Tuesday)," said Vonn, the reigning World champion in downhill and a two-time World Cup downhill title holder.

"On Monday, in the first downhill training run, my shin was definitely hurting quite a bit, so I'm really happy that I got a chance to rest it.

"At the same time, yesterday was definitely really positive. I was able to ski the way I wanted to -- it was really painful -- but I made it down and that was a really positive step," she said.

"I'm really excited about the race tomorrow. It's been a lot of hurry up and wait with all these cancellations but with my injury it was one of the best possible scenarios getting that time to heal,' she said.

Vonn had complained about the bumpy surface after training and U.S women's head coach Jim Tracy said he expected his team would have to put up with the rough terrain again.

"I'm sure it's going to be bumpy tomorrow as well, if it is then we are ready and if not it's a bonus -- for everyone," he told Reuters.

Riesch, who has been on Vonn's tail throughout this season but beat her at St. Moritz last month, should be the closest challenger once again.

The tall German is a friend of the American and said she did not expect the injury to cause her rival too many problems.

"I don't think it is too bad. Of course she has pain, I know this kind of injury and it can be painful but for skiing she is okay, it definitely looks like that," she said after Monday's training.

Swede Anja Paerson, a seven-times world champion, is also in the frame along with France's Ingrid Jacquemod and Canadian Emily Brydon.

(Editing by Miles Evans; To query or comment on this story emailsportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)