J.R. Celski could hear his mother screaming.

The 19-year-old rising star had crashed right in front of his parents during the U.S. short track speedskating championships Sept. 12, and the first few inches of his right skate blade sliced into his left leg near the knee. The blade cut through the muscle to the bone, spilling blood on the ice.

"I look down and I see this thing I've never seen before in my life: It's like a rainbow assortment of colors," Celski said Wednesday in New York. "I put my head back and said, 'It's over; it's done.'"

Less than two months after the terrifying accident, Celski is confident he'll be ready to compete in February's Vancouver Olympics.

After surgery and six weeks on crutches, he's preparing to return to the ice soon. Celski is working on his rehab with Dr. Eric Heiden , who won five gold medals in speedskating at the 1980 Lake Placid Olympics.

"It makes me confident and I trust him," Celski said. "He's a very trustworthy guy, and he's been doing this for a long time. He's been in my position with skating before and he knows what injuries are."

FINE-TUNING: A few more tweaks, and Lindsey Vonn will be good to go.

The two-time defending overall World Cup champion -- and gold medal favorite for the Vancouver Games -- is closing in on the ideal race setup for her new slalom skis, estimating she's at a "7 or an 8" out of 10.

Vonn made the risky decision to switch from Rossignol to Head in the off-season. She had won her World Cup titles on Rossignol skis, but the struggling French supplier asked its athletes to accept 50 percent cuts in their endorsement deals. Instead, Vonn signed a five-year deal with Head.

Vonn will be in Vail, Colo., until Tuesday, when she leaves for a slalom race in Levi, Finland.

"It's going to be a great prep for Levi, and hopefully I can get everything dialed in 100 percent," she said. "I'm trying to find the exact model and race setup that I want. So far it's going really well, so I'm just going to keep testing and narrowing things down."

OLYMPIC RINGS: Defending champion Brazil will play Cuba, Spain and Tunisia in the opening round of the men's volleyball worlds, which will be held Sept. 24-Oct. 10 at 10 cities in Italy. The U.S., which won the Olympic gold medal in Beijing, drew Argentina, Venezuela and Mexico in the opening round. ... Olympic gold medal gymnast Shannon Miller is a mom. She gave birth Oct. 28 to John Rocco Falconetti , her first child with husband John Falconetti .