Lindsey Vonn has no regrets about retiring
ARE, Sweden — The Latest on the Alpine skiing world championships (all times local):
4:10 p.m.
Lindsey Vonn has no regrets about retiring after “pushing through the pain one last time” to win bronze in the final race of her career.
Vonn says “every athlete has their own obstacles and I faced mine head on today and I conquered them.”
The American skier says winning bronze was “the best I could have done today” because “there’s not another gear.”
Vonn will undergo knee surgery for the seventh time when she returns to the United States.
She says “it’s not an easy thing to feel your bones hitting together and continue to push through it.”
———
1:40 p.m.
Lindsey Vonn has won the bronze medal in downhill in the final race of her career.
It’s a medal that brings Vonn full circle: the American’s two silvers at the 2007 worlds on the same course in Are were the first two major championship medals of her career.
Ilka Stuhec of Slovenia defended her title from the 2017 worlds, finishing 0.23 seconds ahead of Corinne Suter of Switzerland and 0.49 ahead of Vonn.
———
1 p.m.
Corinne Suter of Switzerland has pushed Lindsey Vonn down to the bronze medal position.
Suter finished 0.23 seconds behind Ilka Stuhec, while Vonn was 0.49 behind.
Suter already won bronze in the super-G on Tuesday.
12:45 p.m.
Defending downhill champion Ilka Stuhec has pushed Lindsey Vonn down to second place through 10 skiers.
When Vonn crossed the finish line after her run she had a big smile on her face, waved and bowed to the crowd.
As soon as she exited the finish area, Vonn was greeted by Swedish great Ingemar Stenmark, the only skier to win more World Cup races than Vonn — 86 to 82.
Stuhec, of Slovenia, finished a whopping 0.49 seconds ahead of Vonn.
———
12:35 p.m.
Lindsey Vonn has completed the last run of her skiing career.
Starting third of 37 racers in the downhill, Vonn came down in first place.
She’ll now have to wait a while to find out her final result.
———
11:45 a.m.
Fog and wind have forced organizers to shorten the women’s downhill course.
The start has been moved down to the second reserve start.
A shorter course should favor Lindsey Vonn in the last race of her career.
With fewer gates to navigate, she won’t have to put as much strain on both of her surgically repaired knees.
———
10:21 a.m.
After heavy early-morning snowfall, the skies have cleared for Lindsey Vonn’s final race.
Vonn is retiring after the downhill at the world championships Sunday.
The race is scheduled to start at 12:30 p.m. (1130 GMT) with Vonn starting third in a field of 37 skiers.
Battling pain in both of her surgically repaired knees, the 34-year-old Vonn recently moved up her retirement date. She then crashed in Tuesday’s super-G and will race for the last time with a black eye and bruised rib.
Vonn goes out as the most successful female skier of all time with 82 World Cup wins.
———
More AP sports: https://apnews.com/apf-sports and https://twitter.com/AP—Sports
