Lindsey Vonn has enjoyed an eventful first week and half at the Pyeongchang Olympics.
The most successful U.S. Alpine skier in history watched her King Charles Spaniel, Lucy, steal the attention — and attract a swarm of photographers — during their opening news conference.
Vonn waited while wind delays threw the Alpine schedule into disarray, then took a late turn too wide to tie for sixth place in the super-G.
The disappointing finish by the three-time Olympian with a record 81 victories on the World Cup circuit unleashed a torrent of attacks on social media. The responses — often profane or threatening — had nothing to do with her skiing. Instead, they celebrated the setback because she criticized President Trump during an interview in December.
As Vonn’s career winds down, the 33-year-old is favored to win a gold medal in the downhill Wednesday at the Jeongseon Alpine Center.
“I’ve tried not to think about it as being my last Olympic downhill and just focus on the moment,” she said after Monday’s training session. “The ‘right here’ and the ‘right now.’ … You can’t get too sentimental right now because I still have to race.”
This will be Vonn’s final Olympics — she won gold in the downhill at the Vancouver Games in 2010, but missed Sochi four years later because of an injured knee. While she plans to compete in the combined Thursday (organizers moved the event up by a day because of the high winds expected to move into the area), the downhill is her signature race, one she has dominated like few others in the sport.
Plagued by injuries in recent years, Vonn had been overshadowed by 22-year-old sensation Mikaela Shiffrin. But last month, Vonn showed she is far from finished. She became the oldest woman to win a World Cup downhill, one of 42 wins in the event on the circuit.
Shiffrin, the overall World Cup leader, planned to compete in the downhill as she worked to become an all-around medal threat, not simply a specialist in the technical events.
After organizers shifted the combined Monday, Shiffrin pulled out of the downhill so she wouldn’t have to compete on back-to-back days.
“As much as I wanted to compete in the Olympic downhill, with the schedule change it’s important for me to focus my energy on preparing for the combined,” Shiffrin said in a statement.
Before the Games, she discussed trying to medal in five events. That hasn’t gone as planned. After starting off with a gold medal in the giant slalom, she finished a surprising fourth in the slalom, her best event. She dropped the super-G after weather compacted the 11-event Alpine schedule.
With Shiffrin’s absence, U.S. teammates Breezy Johnson, Alice McKennis and Laurenne Ross will join Vonn in the downhill.
Vonn plans to enter the combined, pass on the team event, then stick around the World Cup circuit long enough to break the all-time record of 86 wins set by Sweden’s Ingemar Stenmark.
For now, Vonn’s focus is Wednesday’s 2,775-meter blitz down the side of Gariwangsan Mountain.
“I personally think downhill is the best,” she said, “because we go the fastest.”
That’s something Vonn does better than any other woman.
