Lindsey Vonn admitted yesterday to struggling to sign autographs and not even being able to tie her hair into a ponytail — the fall-out from another injury-wracked season.
But the American speed queen insists that while not skiing at full confidence, she was ready to claim some medals at the World Ski Championships that get under way in St Moritz, Switzerland today.
“It’s still a work in progress,” Vonn said of an injured hand. “It’s not at 100% by any means, but it’s getting better. I can hold a ski pole and I can shake people’s hands.
“But I can’t quite put my hair in a ponytail. I can’t do too many autographs because my hand gets tired.”
Turning to the world championships, Vonn confirmed she would compete in the two speed events of the downhill and super-G as well as the alpine combined.
“At world championships the only thing that matters is the medals, there’s no World Cup points, fourth place is probably the worst place to be,” said the 32-year-old, with her dog Lucy sat on her lap.
“I’m going for medals, I’m going to ski my best: either I’m going to win or go out, that’s my mentality going in.
“I hope I can come away with some medals. Even though I’m not at my most confident, I still think I can win.”
Vonn broke an arm in training late last year and has had only five World Cup races since then, including topping the podium in Garmisch, Germany.
“I’m definitely in a better spot after winning in Garmisch than I was before. Crashing twice in Cortina was a bit of a setback and skiing safe and conservatively in the super-G didn’t really help,” she said.
“I’m going in excited, confident, not at my most confident but pretty confident, and I think after downhill training runs I’ll build my way into it.
“This is a great course for me, it’s a great hill for me, I’ve won a lot of World Cups here.
“I’m also excited because I didn’t make the 2003 world championship team (also for St Moritz) because my coaches didn’t think I was good enough!”
‘Bigger than worlds’
Vonn insisted, however, that the world champs were ranked third in her list of career priorities given her charge on Ingemar Stenmark’s World Cup record of 86 career victories.
Vonn is currently on 77, with a 16-episode Eurosport series launching later Sunday based on the American’s quest.
“Ingemar’s record would be the highest priority of my goals, the Olympics next and the world championships and more discipline titles after that. Ingemar’s record is something that would be remembered more in the history of skiing rather than anything else.
“I never in a million years would have guessed that I’d come this far in my career that I’d even be close to breaking Ingemar’s record. He’s the legend in ski racing, everyone believes he’s the greatest of all time,” she said. “Being this close to breaking his record is a dream come true.”
Vonn also reiterated her long-expressed hope that skiing’s governing body, the FIS, would sanction her to compete against men at Lake Louise. “I love training with the men,” she said. “They push me to ski better, to push my limits even more.
“One of my biggest goals in the future is to be able to race against them in Lake Louise. That’s my best chance to have the most success and be closer to them because that’s the only course that’s pretty much exactly the same.”
Vonn’s coach will present a plan to FIS in the hope of her taking part in December 2018.
Asked about whether male skiers wanted her participation, Vonn’s answer summed up some of the concerns surrounding any potential softening of existing rules: “That’s a mixed bag!”
Lindsey Vonn
