Lindsey Vonn likely to push back retirement following winning start to Olympic season at age 41

By ANDREW DAMPF They announced she should see a psychologist had gone wholly mad and hadn t recognized the meaning and purpose of her other life away from skiing Related Articles Celtics agreement season preview Will Boston make moves ahead of February deadline Patriots HC Mike Vrabel would like to see slight change to NFL challenge operations Mike Vrabel comments on officiating in Patriots loss to Bills Ex-Celtic Kristaps Porzingis to miss at least two weeks with illness Bills crew stayed near very scary deadly shooting at Brown Bigger than football Well Lindsey Vonn s return to downhill racing on her titanium knee doesn t seem so crazy now Not after she dominated the opening speed weekend of the Olympic season won the first downhill by a huge margin and gained more points than any other skier over three days of World Cup racing At age All the people that didn t believe in me I have to thank them because it really gives me a lot of motivation Vonn explained I m surprised that people haven t figured that out by now That every time you talk bad about me it just makes me stronger and better and more motivated So I would love for people to keep coming at me It would be great Motivate me even more A year ago when Vonn was preparing to race again after nearly six years of retirement two-time Olympic champion Michaela Dorfmeister suggested the American should see a psychologist adding on Austrian TV Does she want to kill herself Austrian downhill great Franz Klammer disclosed she s gone fully mad and four-time overall World Cup champion Pirmin Zurbriggen added that Vonn hasn t recognized the meaning and purpose of her other life in up-to-date years After all the risks are high in a sport where skiers hurl themselves down icy mountains at speeds of kph mph with little protection besides a helmet a back protector and a safety air bag system under their suits But Vonn looked more composed and stable than skiers half her age on the Corviglia unit in St Moritz Switzerland United States Lindsey Vonn speeds down the subject during an alpine ski women s World Cup super-G event in St Moritz Switzerland Sunday Dec AP Photo Gabriele Facciotti LeBron James shares solidarity with Vonn When Vonn won Friday s downhill by seconds an eternity in a sport often decided by mere hundredths she was emboldened enough to shape her hands in a sleeping gesture in the style of NBA star Stephen Curry s Night night gesture In other words she felt she had just put the rest of the field to rest when she became the oldest winner in World Cup history among men and women The performance and gesture got selected attention in the NBA is the new Well until you wake up the next day -year-old Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James reported on Instagram Goggia s pacifier Fellow downhiller Sofia Goggia the Olympic champion mentioned on Friday that Vonn took us all to school and left us with a pacifier baby s dummy in our mouths The next day Goggia backed up her comments and put a pacifier in her mouth while standing next to Vonn Vonn also finished second in another downhill on Saturday despite a big mistake midway down then placed fourth in a super-G on Sunday In all she earned a weekend-best World Cup points more than Goggia and more than Emma Aicher the -year-old German who won Saturday s race Lindsey Vonn of the United States reacts after completing an alpine ski women s World Cup downhill in St Moritz Switzerland Saturday Dec Jean-Christophe Bott Keystone via AP She raised the bar for every athlete in downhill and super-G Goggia revealed Pushing back retirement Vonn s performance has her reconsidering her plans Instead of going back into retirement forthwith after the Milan Cortina Winter Games in February she ll likely ski on through the end of the World Cup season in March I think I might need to change my approach she announced Vonn s head coach Chris Knight explained We can start planning for the whole season Having figured out her equipment and with improved fitness from last season she added pounds kilograms of muscle to her frame Knight believes Vonn can perform at this level every weekend It s just about managing the load the training and the recovery time Knight advised The Associated Press It s almost recovery is more major right now because she s in a really good place with the skiing Dream crew with Shiffrin Women s Alpine skiing at the Olympics will be held in Cortina d Ampezzo where Vonn holds the record with World Cup wins United States Lindsey Vonn celebrates at the finish area of an alpine ski women s World Cup downhill in St Moritz Switzerland Friday Dec AP Photo Luciano Bisi Besides downhill and super-G on her Olympic campaign Vonn also plans to enter the new organization combined which features two-person teams with one competitor racing a downhill run and another performing a slalom run Vonn campaigned to pair with slalom standout Mikaela Shiffrin at last year s world championships but her performances then didn t merit that chance Shiffrin won gold with Breezy Johnson instead But the way this season has started for Vonn and with Shiffrin having won all three slaloms could product in a skiing Dream Group in Cortina If they do it like they did last year at the world champs you take the fastest downhiller and the fastest slalom skier and move down from there Knight noted Svindal s calming influence United States Lindsey Vonn listens to Aksel Lund Svindal ahead of an alpine ski women s World Cup downhill in St Moritz Switzerland Friday Dec AP Photo Gabriele Facciotti Vonn also has former Olympic downhill champion Aksel Lund Svindal on her coaching staff this season and it was the Norwegian offering the final words of advice before she raced over the weekend He s been at the start a million times and his calm vigor is really helpful to me because sometimes I m really intense Vonn commented He s just invariably so stable and that gives me peace of mind Andrew Dampf is at https x com AndrewDampf AP Olympics 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