Lindsey Vonn, the American skiing superstar, won the third Olympic medal of her career, but it was a bronze, not a gold, in the downhill.
Vonn finished behind Sofia Goggia, the first Italian woman to win the downhill, and Ragnhild Mowinckel of Norway.
Shortly after her run, Vonn, 33, became emotional when asked about her future. “It’s sad, I love what I do, but my body just probably can’t take another four years,” she told NBC.
“It’s tough to contemplate this being my last Olympic downhill. I struggled to keep it all together, but I left it all on the mountain. I’d have loved a gold medal, but honestly, I’m so proud.”
So, no gold medal for Lindsey Vonn in the downhill. And no medal for the United States men's hockey team at these Winter Olympics. Vonn, a once-in-a-generation ski talent, added to her Olympic medal collection on Wednesday morning in South Korea after settling for the bronze, while the American men lost a heartbreaker to the Czechs, 3-2, in a shootout.
For the second consecutive Winter Olympics, the United States' men's hockey team has failed to medal.
Vonn, 33, was aiming to become the oldest woman to ever win a gold in the downhill but was beat by her good friend, Italy's Sofia Goggia. Goggia crossed in 1 minutes, 39.22 seconds and in doing so became the first Italian woman to ever win gold in the event.
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Medal Tracker
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PYEONGCHANG, South Korea — Lindsey Vonn, the most successful World Cup woman skier of all-time, is “99.9 percent sure” that Wednesday will mark her final Olympic downhill race.
She is not retiring just yet though.
The 33-year-old American’s plan, for the moment, is to carry on competing in the World Cup until she surpasses Sweden’s Ingemar Stenmark’s record of 86 race wins on the men’s circuit, the most by any athlete.
Vonn currently has 81 World Cup triumphs.
So another season, perhaps two, of powering down the slopes of Europe and North America. But no Beijing Games in 2022. No 37-year-old Vonn looking to add more gold to her legacy.
After downhill training on Tuesday, though, Vonn was asked if she was absolutely sure she would not be an Olympian again.
“I haven’t ever completely said that I am not,” she said, slightly opening the door, before almost closing it shut again.
“I feel like its 99.9 percent sure that I won’t but who knows, maybe something will come out and they will fix my knee up and I will be like robo-knee and ski like 10 more years and that would be ideal.”
Since first tearing her ACL in 2007, Vonn has suffered frequent knee ligament injuries as well as broken bones and missed the 2014 Sochi Games due to a serious knee injury she has been managing it ever since.
When it comes to the question of continuing in the sport or not, she said it is not a matter of motivation or desire but purely whether her knee can cope.
“Oh yeah, I love what I do. I have so much fun going fast and pushing myself to the limit on downhill skis there is nothing else I would rather do,” she said.
“So if I could physically continue skiing, then I absolutely will. But at this point, it takes a lot to make my knee good enough to ski downhill, it has to be pretty solid to push yourself at these speeds and be able to trust it.
“I am just counting on some medical miracles to extend my career.”
Barring that miracle, Wednesday’s downhill at Jeongseon Alpine Centre, where she faces a strong challenge from Italian Sofia Goggia, will be her final opportunity to add to the downhill gold and super-G bronze she won in Vancouver in 2010.
She starts as favorite, a familiar position and one she is comfortable with.
“It’s all or nothing so there is really no reason to be nervous or think about pressure or expectation because either I win or I lose,” she said.
“And if I am nervous I am going to lose anyway so what’s the point?”
Story highlights Olympic skier Lindsey Vonn has three rescue dogs
They helped her get through depression, she says
Vonn has even created an Instagram account devoted to them
(CNN) It hasn't been easy for US skiing superstar Lindsey Vonn in recent months as she received a torrent of online abuse after saying she wouldn't visit the White House if she won Olympics gold in Pyeongchang.
But there are at least three loyal friends Vonn can always count on -- and these ones can't tweet.
"They don't talk back, they don't tell me what to do, they just love me," Vonn recently told CNN.
Lindsey Vonn poses with her dog Lucy.
Vonn and Lucy in St Moritz, Switzerland.
Vonn being led by Lucy.
She is referring to her three rescue dogs, Lucy, Leo and Bear.
Of the three, her Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, Lucy, is the biggest celebrity. Small enough to accompany Vonn to overseas races, she is often the paparazzi's target and even became the center of a meme posted on Twitter by Team USA.
What you think you look like when you pose for the camera vs what you actually look like. ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/AutOTsIYp6 — U.S. Olympic Team (@TeamUSA) February 8, 2018
