Vonn, with her dog watching, says she's ready for her last Olympics

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February 10, 2018 11:29 AM

The first American woman to win the Olympic downhill, at the 2010 Vancouver Games, Vonn missed the 2014 Sochi Olympics because of a knee injury.

“I’m just going to lay it all out there,” a smiling Vonn, considered one of the greatest skiers of all time, said at a news conference.

“I was much healthier in 2010,” she said. “But in 2018, I’m much stronger mentally.”

In an emotional interlude during her news conference, Vonn broke down in tears as she discussed her grandfather, Don Kildow, who recently died and to whom she has dedicated her races in Pyeongchang.

“I want so badly to do well for him, and I miss him so much,” Vonn said of her paternal grandfather, who died in November. “I wish he was here and able to watch me, but I know he’s watching. I’m going to win for him.”

Vonn’s first race, the women’s super-G, will not be held until Feb. 17, but Vonn wanted to arrive in time for the opening ceremony — something she has not done since her first Olympics in 2002 in Salt Lake City.

In every recent Olympics, Vonn’s best event, the women’s downhill, has been contested near the first weekend of competition, too close to the opening ceremony to allow for rest and preparation. This year, the women’s downhill is not until Feb. 21. Vonn said that this time she is trying “to soak in as much of the Olympic experience as I can.”

Vonn, 33, enters the games on a winning streak having finished first in her last two World Cup races. She plans to enter the Alpine combined as her final event Feb. 23.

“I’m very happy with my skiing right now,” Vonn said. “Last weekend was just the icing on the cake.”

Vonn also looked past the 2018 Pyeongchang Games, vowing to continue to race on the World Cup until she breaks the record of 86 World Cup wins held by Ingemar Stenmark. Vonn has won 81 World Cup races.

“I think next year I can get beyond that,” she said of Stenmark’s record.

Vonn competed for attention at the news conference with her dog, Lucy, which she often travels with and brought to the news conference.

“She’s always with me,” Vonn said. “So I figured I’d need her for the most important event.”

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

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