Lindsey Vonn to ski 3 more years, wants to race against men

By Published On: June 7th, 2016Comments Off on Lindsey Vonn to ski 3 more years, wants to race against men

In soccer legend Abby Wambach’s debut ESPN radio show, Lindsey Vonn opened up, sharing a few secrets about her plans for the future as an athlete. The good news: The ski world will likely get three more years of Vonn – taking her past the PyeongChang 2018 Olympics and into the 2018-19 season. Why the extra year after the Winter Games?

“The goal is definitely to make it to the next Olympics in South Korea in 2018, so that’s two more seasons, but I’m really hoping for three seasons and I’ll tell you why,” the speed queen teased in the radio interview. “It’s because in my final season, I would like to race against the men in one race.”

Vonn made a similar push in 2012, petitioning the FIS to allow her to race in the men’s downhill in Lake Louise, Canada.

“I guess it has been a more realistic goal the last couple of years, but unfortunately the FIS said that a woman is not allowed to race on the men’s tour, it has nothing to do with safety,” Vonn said in a 2012 Eurosport interview. “It has to do with the fact that I’m a woman. I was very disappointed with that decision and I’m not going to stop trying. It’s something that I’m going to continue to push for.”

As a consolation for the decision to bar her from competing in the men’s race, the FIS said, “In terms of her request to participate in the men’s downhill in Lake Louise, she is welcome to submit a request to the Organizing Committee and jury to be a forerunner.”

Vonn isn’t letting that decision from four years ago block her from fulfilling her dreams. As she approaches the all-time win record (86) currently held by Ingemar Stenmark, she wants to know how she stacks up compared to the best men in the world.

“We’ve started the process of trying to figure out how [racing against men] can be accomplished,” Vonn said in her ESPN radio interview. “It’s going to be definitely a hard thing to get done with all the ski federations and everything involved, but that’s my goal. … I’m hoping by like three years I could probably figure out how to accomplish that, fingers crossed.”

The American skier has been plagued by injuries in her career including one this season, which prevented her from contesting the overall title at the end of the year. To continue her success, she’ll have to keep herself strong.

“I’ve accomplished a lot, but I still feel like there’s a lot I have left to achieve,” she shared. “And I may be getting older, but I’m also wiser and I feel like I’ve got things pretty much figured out for the most part. And I think at this point, it’s just a matter of staying healthy and keeping my body in relatively good shape.”

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About the Author: Gabbi Hall

A California native, Gabbi moved to Vermont to ski on the NCAA circuit for St. Michael’s College, where she served as team captain and studied journalism. Before joining Ski Racing, she worked as a broadcast TV producer and social media manager in higher education. She can be reached via email at gabbi@skiracing.com