Lindsey Vonn not taking chances with her health

PYEONGCHANG, SOUTH KOREA — Known for her hard-charging style on skis, Lindsey Vonn is not taking any chances off the slopes.

The black gloves she wore to a pre-Olympics news conference Friday made that clear.

After waiting eight years — “a very long time,” she called it — to return to a Winter Games for the fourth — and, she left no doubt, final — time, Vonn is making sure to cover her hands to try to avoid picking up any germs.

Even donned the gloves for her flight to South Korea.

“I just don’t want to get sick,” she said. “Just being safe.”

The U.S. Alpine skiing star is not accustomed to erring on the side of caution while racing, which is why she owns a pair of Olympic medals and four overall World Cup titles. She has won her past three races, raising her World Cup total to 81 victories, a record for a woman and the secondmost in history, five behind Ingemar Stenmark.

That speed is also why she is all-too-familiar with dealing with health issues, including the torn-up right knee that forced her to miss the 2014 Sochi Games.

She estimates that she spent the equivalent of about three years on rehabilitation from various injuries; while Vonn reiterated Friday she plans to ski another season to eclipse Stenmark, when she mentioned the word “retirement,” it was in the context of how long her knees will hold up.

So Vonn is thrilled to be back on her sport’s most visible stage.

She plans to compete in the downhill, the superG and the combined, but said Friday that she has opted to skip the giant slalom “because my knee is just not really in a place to do that.”