Vonn falls from ‘I got this’ to ‘Baaaaad’ in super-G
JEONGSEON, South Korea — Lindsey Vonn’s first Olympic race in eight years included one obvious late mistake that she was sure cost her a medal.
Truth is, the American generally considered the greatest female ski racer in history also botched things in the upper half of the super-G course Saturday, so she wound up tied for sixth place, 0.38 seconds behind surprise champion Ester Ledecka of the Czech Republic.
Vonn’s take on her run? “Really good. Really good. Really good. Baaaaad.”
At Vancouver in 2010, she took bronze in the super-G and gold in the downhill. She sat out the Sochi Games four years ago after tearing ligaments in her right knee. So it was a thrill to be back for what Vonn, 33, has said will be her final Olympics.
The four-time overall World Cup champion focused on a particular miscue in what she called “the last critical section,” about six seconds from the end of a race that took the winner 1 minute, 21.11 seconds to complete.
Entering a jump-turn combination, Vonn allowed one ski to lift off the snow too much and swept several feet wide of the proper path, barely clearing a gate.
“I misjudged how I came in there,” Vonn acknowledged.
If Vonn hadn’t done that, she said: “I think I would be on the podium, at bare minimum. I mean, that mistake was really big, and I’m only a couple tenths out of first. So I would estimate yes.”
Before that portion: “I mean, I felt really good. I was like, ‘Yes! I got this. I got this.’ And I knew I had to focus all the way to the finish because of that turn.”
Just as consequential, perhaps, was that she also lost quite a bit of time earlier. Vonn reached the halfway point of the race with only the 16th-best time, more than a half-second slower in that section than bronze medalist Tina Weirather of Liechtenstein, for example.
Vonn made up for some of that by being the fastest over the next quarter of the course before the final error eliminated any chance at a medal. Weirather noticed the early problems, saying Vonn “lost a whole bunch at the top.”
Now Vonn will get a few days to gather herself and begin preparing for her best event, the downhill, which is Wednesday.
“In general, this season I feel like I’ve been much better in downhill than super-G,” she said. “And this hill suits me really well for downhill. I’m confident for the downhill.”