Vancouver Olympic favorite Lindsey Vonn bruised a bone in her left arm following a crash on the opening run of a World Cup giant slalom on Monday.

Vonn had X-ray and MRI scans at a hospital before returning to the U.S. team hotel with her arm in a splint. According to U.S. team medical director Richard Quincy, the scans showed no fractures, only a bone bruise.

"It's not a classic broken wrist, but a swelling," said doctor Eduard Sporer of the Lienz district hospital, who added Vonn might be able to race in Tuesday's slalom. "She's got a lot of pain now, but if she feels well she could start."

Vonn's husband Thomas said the "bone almost broke."

"It has tiny stress fractures inside and massive internal bruising and swelling," he said. "Basically what it means is she can ski as soon as she can handle the pain. She will be testing it out tomorrow morning to see if she can race in the slalom."

Vonn skipped the mandatory public bib draw Monday evening and was represented by teammate Kaylin Richardson.

Vonn started 15th and made a couple of mistakes in the early part of her run, falling more than a second behind the leading time set by Kathrin Hoelzl of Germany. After a sharp left turn, the American lost her balance on a bump and fell backward, hitting a gate and losing a ski.

The two-time World Cup overall champion remained down for almost 10 minutes while receiving first aid. Vonn eventually stood up, put her skis back on and made it to the bottom of the hill with her left arm in a sling.

"My arm really hurts," Vonn said as she climbed into an ambulance and headed to the hospital for tests. "I don't know what has happened. I believe it's broken."

Turns out that wasn't the case. Trevor Wagner, the technical coach of the U.S. team, said Vonn was still considering a run at the slalom on Tuesday.

"I'm going to talk to her, but it's up to her," Wagner said.

U.S. women's speed coach Alex Hoedlmoser was not at the race but was with Vonn for training the past two days.

"It was just a bumper, I guess, and it looked worse than it was," Hoedlmoser said.

With the Vancouver Olympics looming, Hoedlmoser suggested it might be a good idea to skip the slalom.

"It definitely would make sense looking at the bigger picture for her to rest for a couple of days," he said. "But I know Lindsey, and I know she wants to race. It all depends on how painful it is."

Vonn was coming off a successful weekend in Val D'Isere, France, where a victory in the super combined and a third-place finish in a super-G helped her to reclaim the sole lead of the overall World Cup standings ahead of friend and rival Maria Riesch of Germany.