Vonn wins bronze medal in women's downhill

pulse

February 21, 2018 4:48 AM

Lindsey Vonn, the U.S. skiing superstar, won the third Olympic medal of her career, but it was a bronze, not a gold, in the downhill Wednesday.

Vonn finished behind Sofia Goggia, the first Italian woman to win the downhill, and Ragnhild Mowinckel of Norway.

Shortly after her run, Vonn became emotional when asked about her future. “It’s sad. I love what I do, but my body just probably can’t take another four years,” she told NBC.

“It’s tough to contemplate this being my last Olympic downhill. I struggled to keep it all together, but I left it all on the mountain. I’d have loved a gold medal, but honestly, I’m so proud.”

Vonn was the downhill winner in 2010 and added a bronze in the super-G. But she missed the 2014 Games with a knee injury.

She did not make a major mistake in her run but could not catch Goggia, who seemed well suited to the course, over which she had won a test event last year.

“I moved like a samurai,” Goggia said. “Usually, I’m really chaotic but I wanted to take in every little detail, every particular in the morning. I believed in myself — and then what counts, counts.”

At 33, Vonn is the oldest female medalist in Alpine skiing at the Winter Games. The record was previously held by Austria’s Michaela Dorfmeister, who was 32 when she won the downhill and the super-G at the 2006 Turin Olympics.

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