“It’s fun to be a part of a team,” Vonn said. “I’ve never had that experience in a world championships or Olympics before. I’ve always loved the combined as an individual (event). They don’t have that anymore. So this is my next best option. I get along great with every single member of my team and I would be proud to race with anyone.”
But at the worlds, Vonn was very public about her desire to race with Shiffrin, who ended up winning gold with Breezy Johnson. Vonn and AJ Hurt placed 16th on Tuesday.
The new event entails one racer competing in a downhill run and another in a slalom run, with their times added together to determine the final results.
Shiffrin and Vonn are the winningest female racers in World Cup history with 99 victories for Shiffrin and 82 for Vonn. Vonn is the all-time leader in World Cup downhill victories with 43 and Shiffrin holds the mark in slalom with 62 — both records among men and women.
“Would it have been a really cool thing to have 181 wins in one team? I think it would have been,” Vonn said. “But if you’re looking at what’s best for the team, it’s not me right now. That doesn’t mean that next year things might change.”
Vonn struggled in her downhill run of the combined, finishing 21st and a distant 2.51 seconds behind the leader, American teammate Lauren Macuga. Johnson was fourth, setting up her gold medal with Shiffrin.
That performance by Vonn followed a hooked gate that took her out of the super-G and a 15th-place finish in the downhill.
“Technically, I’m skiing better than I was before, but from the gliding (standpoint) I am not fast,” Vonn said. “So that’s something that I’ve never had a problem with. And I just need to figure it out.”
Having recently returned to ski racing with a new titanium knee after nearly six years of retirement, Vonn is playing catch up with her new equipment.
Vonn’s longtime ski technician, Heinz Haemmerle, retired, so equipment supplier Head assigned her Chris Krause, who formerly worked for Didier Cuche and Bode Miller. But then Krause got sick, so she was assigned yet another technician, Rene Meusburger.
Is Vonn trying to convince Haemmerle to follow her out of retirement?
“I think that would be unfair to Heinz. He had a bad accident a few months ago with his leg and he hasn’t skied yet. He’s got a giant scar bigger than mine,” Vonn said. “He’s definitely going to help me. To what degree? I don’t know. But I also want to be fair to him and I don’t want to put him a position where he’s risking his health to help me.
“I’ve got an amazing position now with Rene. He’s super young and he gets along well with Heinz. I think having the old and the young (techs) together would be a cool and a beneficial partnership. But it’s not all sorted out yet.”
Whoever is tuning her skis will be just as busy after this season ends, when Vonn will embark on a marathon testing session to get her setup up to speed — likely on European glaciers before moving to South America or New Zealand.
“It’s going to be full throttle spring and summer to really get things going,” Vonn said. “It’s just going to be a matter of getting good enough snow conditions to do that.”
After leaving the worlds, Vonn flew to Switzerland for a teaching arrangement at the Aiglon ski academy. Then she was heading home to Miami.
She’ll return to racing in Kvitfjell, Norway, at the end of the month.
Her long-term goal remains the 2026 Games, having told The Associated Press recently that she plans to retire again after competing in a fifth Olympics. Women's skiing at the Olympics will be held in Cortina d'Ampezzo, where Vonn holds the record of 12 World Cup wins.
“I am not really patient, but I really have to try to be kind to myself because even though I have high expectations and I was fourth and sixth in my second and third races back, I still have work to do and I am still 40 and I still have a partial knee replacement,” Vonn said. “It’s not like I don’t know what to do. … I just need time to put all the pieces together.”
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AP skiing: https://apnews.com/hub/alpine-skiing
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