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This Day In Sports…February 10, 2019:
Lindsey Vonn, the most decorated female skier in World Cup history, wins a bronze medal in the downhill in what was supposed to be the final race of her career at the World Alpine Championships in Are, Sweden. Persistent pain from an endless series of injuries forced Vonn to retire at the age of 34, but not before she won 82 World Cup races, second only to Swedish legend Ingemar Stenmark’s 86. Vonn’s goal was to break Stenmark’s record that season, but she had another wish fulfilled when Stenmark presented her flowers on the podium in Sweden. (Mikaela Shiffrin is the current record-holder for career World Cup victories with 99.)
Vonn’s mentor as a youngster was Sun Valley ski legend Picabo Street, who helped get her career off the ground. Vonn would go on to claim four World Cup overall championships, including three in a row from 2008-10. She also won a record eight World Cup season titles in the downhill. Vonn is one of only six women to earn victories in all five alpine skiing disciplines (downhill, super-G, slalom, giant slalom and combined). The peak of her career came in 2010 when, at the Vancouver Games, she became the first American to win a gold medal in the women’s downhill at the Winter Olympics.
Vonn, now 40, has embarked on a comeback this season, leaving retirement to return to the World Cup circuit following a knee replacement last year. She finished 15th in the women’s downhill Saturday at the World Championships in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austria. The ski world has been rife with skeptics. “I think we always expect people to do a certain thing by a certain age, and I think that expectation is wrong. I think if you believe in yourself and you work hard, you can achieve anything you set your mind to,” she told CBC Sports after Saturday’s race. “Men have done what I’m doing—there’s no reason why I can’t do it.”
Vonn called the World Championships a “practice run” for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy. She finished 1.96 seconds behind American teammate and gold medalist Breezy Johnson (who grew up as an Idahoan in Victor near the Wyoming border). Vonn, obviously pleased with her run—and her comeback to date—waved and blew a kiss to fans before giving Johnson a hug. Saturday marked a year to the day before the scheduled date of the Olympic women’s downhill.
(Tom Scott hosts the Scott Slant segment during the football season on KTVB’s Sunday Sports Extra. He also anchors four sports segments each weekday on 95.3 FM KTIK and one on News/Talk KBOI. His Scott Slant column runs every Wednesday.)
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