“So much pain”
Ski star Vonn paid dearly for her great career
April 26, 2024, 8:26 a.m
Lindsey Vonn is one of the most successful athletes in the history of winter sports. The ski racer wins race after race, medal after medal. But after her career ends, she pays a high price for her great career.
Olympic ski champion Lindsey Vonn is still struggling with the physical consequences of the sport five years after retiring. “When you work and invest like that, it has an impact on your body. Hopefully no one has as much pain as me,” said the 39-year-old in an interview with Sport1.
The American, who ended her career in 2019 after three Olympic medals and two World Cup titles, recently had an artificial knee joint inserted. Vonn said she could never be free of pain again. “Unfortunately that’s the price of elite sport, every athlete knows that. When you have such a long career and give so much and have a lot of injuries – and I really had a lot,” said Vonn. Nevertheless, she “enjoyed” her career, emphasized Vonn, who is now making a name for herself as a businesswoman and is involved in the Utah Royals soccer club, among other things.
Vonn, who has won 82 World Cup races, has a long list of injuries: torn cruciate ligaments, fractures in the knee, ankle and arm, a concussion and many more plagued the American over the course of her career. “My body can no longer be repaired,” she said when she ended her career. It was also her body that forced her to end her career early.
In her last race, the 2019 World Cup downhill in Are, Sweden, she raced to bronze again – against all odds. “I could barely walk and still came third in my last race. Overall, the best scenario how it could have ended, but it’s still bittersweet for me,” she reported to “Welt” looking back. “I thought and hoped that my knee would hurt a little less when I finished my career, but that’s not the case. The knee hurts all the time. I try to deal with it as best I can, and yes: I “I still say it was all worth it. But unfortunately the knee limits what I can do.”