SAN SICARIO, Italy — Lindsey Kildow woke up in a Turin hospital to hear a doctor tell her to forget about skiing the Olympic downhill.

Just over 24 hours later, Kildow was at the starting gate. Then she was past the rolling turn that sent her into a knee-buckling, airborne crash. Then she was at the bottom of the mountain, safely, a remarkable Olympic debut behind her.

"I didn't think I was gonna do it," said Kildow, "and the doctor almost called it right there and said, 'You can't even move. You're not going to be able to do anything.'"

The 21-year-old Kildow did it anyway Wednesday afternoon, finishing tied for eighth, 1.29 seconds behind gold medalist Michaela Dorfmeister.

She was urged on by close friend Picabo Street, the 1998 Olympic gold medalist who fought back from numerous serious injuries during her ski career.

"I just tried to be positive," Kildow said. "I mean, it was only one day but I think I recovered quite a bit and I just got the range of motion back."

She said she skied through pain in her back, and her hip was severely bruised, but "as long as I can physically do it, I can suck it up for a minute, 55 seconds."

But will that lingering pain get in the way of her racing again in these games?

She is entered in all five Alpine skiing events — and four remain, though she has ruled out next week's giant slalom because of the stress on her knees. It's also her worst event.

Next up is the combined — one downhill followed by two-legs of the turn-heavy slalom. The event was perhaps her best shot for a gold medal before the crash, but could be too much strain on her battered body.

While Kildow was penciled in on the start list for today's training, she said her participation in Friday's race is still up in the air.

Sunday's super-G looks like her best bet. She believes she can handle the steep terrain, sweeping turns and speed of the event, which uses a portion of the downhill course. Despite the crash, she loves the hill. After all, she had the second-fastest training run on Sunday.

"I'm keeping the confidence that I have in the course and the feeling I have with the terrain," she said. "I've still got that, and I'm gonna look forward to the super-G because I know I can do well there. I just have to recover a little bit.

"Believe me, I'm gonna do everything humanly possible to be there," she said.

No one should doubt that after her performance on Wednesday.

"She has magic knees," said Alexandra Meissnitzer, the Austrian who tied with Kildow. "I think it's a miracle she's already racing, and she did a good job."

For Dorfmeister, Wednesday's race was eight years in the making to erase the disappointment of missing out on the gold.

A month shy of 33, the Austrian plans to quit the World Cup circuit after the season, and primarily stuck around this long for one last shot at Olympic gold — "that elusive medal," as she called it.

At the 1998 Nagano Games, she came as close as possible to winning the super-G without actually doing so: It was Street who wound up 0.01 seconds ahead, and Dorfmeister who had to settle for the silver.

She had fourth-, fifth- and sixth-place finishes at Salt Lake City four years later, and so, for all of her 24 World Cup victories and two world championships, one thing was missing: a chance to climb to the top spot on an Olympic podium.

Martina Schild of Switzerland won the silver, 0.37 behind, while two-time World Cup overall champion Anja Paerson of Sweden was third, 0.64 back.

The top U.S. finisher was No. 7 Julia Mancuso, while defending Olympic champion Carole Montillet-Carles of France was No. 28 but impressed merely by competing. She, like Kildow, took a nasty spill Monday.

As the Austrian national anthem played, Dorfmeister couldn't hide her emotion, although she tried, holding a bouquet of flowers over her tear-reddened eyes.

"I really enjoyed that moment," Dorfmeister said. "I didn't sleep for two nights, because I was under so much pressure. But this morning I felt very relaxed, and when I took the lift to the start, I said, 'Today, I'll do it.'"