As Lindsey Vonn stood in the start gate in Pyeongchang yesterday, waiting to race her final Olympic downhill, NBC declined to show the racer then聽on the course, Germany鈥檚 Kira Weidle, instead keeping聽the camera locked on Vonn. She took a series of quick, short breaths, and stamped her feet. Bode Miller, commentating for NBC after retiring from racing last fall, grimly noted her isolation. 鈥淭here鈥檚 no one who can help you. You鈥檙e alone, at that point,鈥 he said. (Weidle, omitted entirely from the primetime broadcast, finished 11th.) Vonn gave a tight smile, pumped her right hand, and, a minute later, pushed out of the start gate.
Vonn鈥檚 run wasn鈥檛 flawless. Needing to ski aggressively through the course鈥檚 choppy upper section, she played it safe, and lost a tenth of a second to Sofia Goggia, the 25-year-old Italian who sat in the lead. 鈥淪he鈥檚 not taking risks with the line,鈥 Miller said. Vonn thrashed through the next three gates, trying to straighten out, but the momentum was lost and she skied into second place, four tenths behind Goggia. Twenty minutes later, Norway鈥檚 Ragnhilde Mowinckel would bump Vonn down to third, where she remained. Behind Vonn, Americans Alice McKennis and Breezy Johnson finish fifth and seventh, in surprising and strong races. Vonn鈥檚 bronze medal goes with her 2010 gold, and the distinction鈥攁t age 33鈥攐f becoming the oldest woman to medal in alpine skiing.
After the race,聽, Vonn鈥檚 formerly estranged father Larry Kildow confirmed Miller鈥檚 assessment. 鈥淪he needed to go for it a little bit more,鈥欌 Kildow said. 鈥淪he needed to risk more.鈥欌
Well, perhaps. Except that Vonn鈥檚 career has been defined聽to an extreme degree by going for it, and Vonn knows better than anyone what going for it does to a body. On Tuesday, the New York Times published a聽, which include concussions, torn and broken knees, and fractures to her ankle, wrist, left pinky, and right arm.聽Several of the downhill鈥檚 top contenders聽in Pyeongchang, including Switzerland鈥檚 Lara Gut and Italy鈥檚 Federica Brignone, missed gates or crashed out before reaching the finish line, and聽Vonn聽may have聽judged the risk appropriately. Third is better than another knee surgery. In the aftermath of an Olympic build up that has featured inevitable media hype and also the death of her grandfather and a vicious聽, Vonn could be excused for wanting to make it off the mountain without calling for a medevac. (Again,聽.)
Vonn missed the Sochi Olympics due to injury, and has kept her career alive to train for Pyeongchang and聽chase the overall World Cup wins record. At 81 victories, she's six short of the record, and聽plans to ski one more season to capture it before retiring. Speaking to NBC after the race, that finality seemed to set in. 鈥淚 worked so hard, and I tried my butt off,鈥 she said, in tears. 鈥淚t鈥檚 sad. This is my last downhill. I wish I could keep going, you know? I have so much fun. I love what I do. My body just can鈥檛, probably can鈥檛 take another four years. But I鈥檓 proud.鈥