It's an Emotional Day for Lindsey Vonn

The skiing superstar says she may have to hang 'em up
By Neal Colgrass,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 20, 2019 2:25 PM CST
Vonn: 'It's Time to Say Goodbye'
United States' Lindsey Vonn waves as she stands in the finish area after completing an alpine ski, women's World Cup super-G in Cortina D'Ampezzo, Italy, Sunday, Jan. 20, 2019.   (AP Photo/Alessandro Trovati)

Sunday was hard for Lindsey Vonn: Tears flowed and a tough decision loomed after she failed to finish a super-G race in Cortina, Italy, the AP reports. The winningest female skier in history hung her head after a bobble knocked her off course, and her right leg—which is permanently weakened by crashes and four surgeries—couldn't bear the weight to push back to the racing line. Given flowers in the finish area by downhill champion Sofia Goggia, Vonn cried. Retiring now "is a possibility," she said. "But I'm emotional right now. I have to really think clearly about that." Yet she seemed closer to a decision when interviewed later by Swiss TV.

"Now it's time to listen to my body and it's time to say goodbye," she said. Indeed, she has no lateral collateral ligament in her left knee and wears two braces; she came back from a left-knee injury Sunday to compete in Cortina, but her best finish over three races was ninth in the downhill on Saturday, CNN reports. At 34, Vonn is only five wins short of breaking the 86-victory record held by Swedish skier Ingemar Stenmark. But her 82 wins gives her the all-time female record, ahead of US teammate Mikaela Shiffrin's 54. "I really don’t know what to think at this point," says Vonn, who was planning to retire in December. "Definitely isn't the way I had hoped that things would go." (Last year, Vonn completed a goal in South Korea but failed to finish an Olympic final race.)

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