Vonn can’t tune out ‘broken’ body
U.S. ski great Lindsey Vonn announced on Friday she’ll be retiring after this month’s alpine world championships in Sweden because her body is “broken beyond repair” and screaming at her to stop.
“I have accepted that I cannot continue ski racing. I will compete at the World Championships in downhill and SG (super-G) next week in Are, Sweden, and they’ll be the final races of my career,” Vonn, 34, said on Instagram.
Considered the greatest female skier, with a record 82 World Cup wins, Vonn had previously suggested she might compete until December so she could race again at Lake Louise, her most successful tour stop, after an injury denied her the opportunity to do so in 2018.
The former Olympic downhill champion has been plagued by knee injuries, however, and she said in a tearful interview with Austrian state broadcaster ORF last month she might have to quit immediately.
In a lengthy post on Instagram, Vonn said the past two weeks had been emotional and the decision to call time on a glittering career was the hardest of her life.
“I have always pushed the limits of ski racing, and it has allowed me to have amazing success, but also dramatic crashes,” she said.
“I have never wanted the storyline of my career to be about injuries, and because of that, I decided not to tell anyone that I underwent surgery this past spring. A large portion of cartilage that had delaminated from my bone was removed.
“My crash in Lake Louise last year (2017) was much more painful than I let on, but I continued to race because I wanted to win a medal in the (2018 Pyeongchang) Olympics for my late grandfather.”
Vonn said she had felt better for a long time after recovering, but another crash in November injured her left knee, causing three fractures that needed intensive therapy.
“I am not able to make the turns necessary to compete the way I know I can. My body is broken beyond repair and it isn’t letting me have the final season I dreamed of. My body is screaming at me to stop and it’s time for me to listen,” she said.
Vonn, whose tally of World Cup wins trails only Swede Ingemar Stenmark’s record haul of 86, said she was more upset about not achieving goals than retirement itself, but would look back with pride on what she had done.