It was supposed to be a happy farewell, but Lindsey Vonn crashed in her opening race at skiing’s World Championships as compatriot Mikaela Shiffrin triumphed in Sweden.
The 34-year-old flew off a jump and careered into netting in Tuesday’s super-G, the penultimate race of her glittering career after announcing her retirement last week because of the toll the sport has taken on her “broken” body.
After race officials and medics rushed to her aid, Vonn eventually got back up and skied tentatively down the course in Are.
She was greeted with a rousing ovation in the finish area and waved to the large crowd as she took off her skis.
The American’s final race is scheduled to be Sunday’s downhill.
Shiffrin, who started immediately before Vonn in bib number 15, took the lead with a host of racers still to come, including Olympic super-G champion Ester Ledecka.
But the 23-year-old held on to beat Italy’s Olympic downhill champion Sofia Goggia by 0.02 seconds with Swiss Corinne Suter 0.05 secs back.
Slalom specialist Shiffrin, is bidding for a fourth straight slalom world title in Are. The Olympic giant slalom champion is not planning to race in the downhill but will contest the slalom, giant slalom and possibly combined event in Are.
“She’s mentally tougher than anyone else, she trains more … she does everything well and you’re seeing the results,” American ski great Bode Miller told Eurosport.
Ledecka was more than two seconds off the pace after a disappointing run.
Vonn has won 82 World Cup races, second on the all-time list behind Ingemar Stenmark (86), and is the most successful women’s ski racer of all time.
She was a double world champion in 2009 and clinched Olympic downhill gold in 2010.
Despite a host of injuries in recent years, Vonn fought back to clinch downhill bronze in the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang.
Vonn said in October that this season would be her last but a knee injury in a training crash at Copper Mountain, Colorado in November put back her season debut until January. She struggled with knee pain in two races in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy and after much soul-searching she announced Friday she would retire after the World Championships.
“The past two weeks have been some of the most emotionally challenging days of my life,” Vonn wrote on Facebook.
“I am struggling with the reality of what my body is telling me versus what my mind and heart believe I’m capable of. The unfortunate reality is my mind and body are not on the same page. After many sleepless nights, I have finally accepted that I cannot continue ski racing.”
She added: “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.”
