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Lindsey Vonn Announces This Will Be Her Final Season

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Skier Lindsey Vonn has made a long career out of tearing up the slopes faster than women ever have before.

But like all good things, her career is about to come to an end.

Vonn announced Thursday that 2018-19 will be her final season competing on the World Cup ski racing circuit, whether or not she breaks Ingemar Stenmark’s record for most wins on that circuit.

Stenmark had 86 victories; Vonn is at 82.

“If I get (the record), that would be a dream come true,” Vonn said at a Chase Bank speaking engagement. “If I don’t, I think I’ve had an incredibly successful career no matter what. I’m still the all-time winningest female skier.”

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Vonn considered leaving open the possibility of competing in the 2019-20 season before finally deciding against it.

“Physically, I’ve gotten to the point where it doesn’t make sense,” Vonn said. “I really would like to be active when I’m older, so I have to look to the future and not just be so focused on what’s in front of me.”

Vonn had initially said during the Pyeongchang Winter Games that her decision when to retire would hinge on whether she broke Stenmark’s record, but her tone seems to have changed since then.

Will you miss watching Lindsey Vonn?

“I’m not going to quit until I get that record, that is for sure, no matter how much pain I’m in,” Vonn said after her last Olympic race, “but I really hope it only takes one more season because it would be difficult for me to continue on after that.”

Meanwhile, the skiing world isn’t quite ready to let Vonn go.

Italian skier Sophia Goggia tried to talk Vonn out of retiring when the two competed against each other in Korea.

Vonn, however, held her ground.

“If I physically could continue for four years, then I probably would,” Vonn said she told Goggia in February. “But four years is a really long time. She said she’s going to keep trying to convince me, but we’ll see.”

Vonn has averaged seven wins a year when she’s been able to stay healthy. But that “when” is more like a giant “if” as she reaches the twilight of her competition days.

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She does intend to leave absolutely everything out on the slopes; she’s planning to race every downhill and Super G event until she breaks the record or breaks herself, whichever comes first.

After that, Vonn will probably race in select events on her farewell tour before hanging up the poles in March.

As for what’s next? Business, of course. Why stop making money just because your primary earning career’s over?

“I’m at an interesting point in my career where I want to pivot into business,” Vonn said, adding she wants to expand her Lindsey Vonn Foundation, which has aided young female ski racers.

“It’s important to me to have people around me that know what they’re doing,” she said. “I honestly don’t know the first thing about starting a business. I just know what I’m passionate about. I’m really passionate about beauty and outerwear.”

Vonn took some business classes at Harvard during some downtime; achieving a degree in the field might be her next challenge.

And in the meantime, we get to watch one heck of a record chase.

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Boston born and raised, Fox has been writing about sports since 2011. He covered ESPN Friday Night Fights shows for The Boxing Tribune before shifting focus and launching Pace and Space, the home of "Smart NBA Talk for Smart NBA Fans", in 2015. He can often be found advocating for various NBA teams to pack up and move to his adopted hometown of Seattle.
Boston born and raised, Fox has been writing about sports since 2011. He covered ESPN Friday Night Fights shows for The Boxing Tribune before shifting focus and launching Pace and Space, the home of "Smart NBA Talk for Smart NBA Fans", in 2015. He can often be found advocating for various NBA teams to pack up and move to his adopted hometown of Seattle.
Birthplace
Boston, Massachusetts
Education
Bachelor of Science in Accounting from University of Nevada-Reno
Location
Seattle, Washington
Languages Spoken
English
Topics of Expertise
Sports




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