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| USA TODAY Sports
PYEONGCHANG, South Korea — Lindsey Vonn is hoping for a gold medal in the women’s downhill Wednesday, another medal in the women’s combined event Thursday, and to have a shot at Olympic medals in Alpine skiing beyond that, something as of yet unidentified.
“I’m just counting on some medical miracles to extend my career,’’ she said Tuesday with a grin.
Vonn, 33, said that’s what she’ll likely need to keep the 2018 Winter Olympics from being her last. Though she is widely considered the favorite to win the women’s downhill here, she said she doubts her surgically repaired right knee will hold up much beyond another year or so of competition, much less to the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing.
After winning the gold medal in the downhill at the 2010 Winter Olympics, Vonn lost a chance to defend her title at the 2014 Olympics because she tore ligaments in her right knee.
Despite finishing a disappointing sixth in the Super-G on Saturday, Vonn has looked physically sound, and on Tuesday during a training she posted the fourth-fastest time (1:40.96) while missing a gate.
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“Everything feels pretty good,’’ she said, shrugging off the missed gate and elaborating on why after her last final two races here it’s highly unlikely she will ski again at the Olympics.
“I haven’t ever completely said I’m not,’’ she said. “I feel like it’s 99.99 percent sure that I won’t. But who knows? Maybe something will come out and they’ll fix my knee up and I’ll be like Robo knee and I’ll ski for like 10 more years. That’d be ideal.’’
The right knee she’s injured multiple times is the only reason she’d stop, said Vonn, whose skis aren’t about to go into storage immediately after the Pyeongchang Games.
With 81 World Cup victories — more than any other female Alpine skier — Vonn intends to compete until she breaks the overall record of 86 World Cup victories, held by retired Swedish skier Ingemar Stenmark.
“I love what I do,’’ Vonn said. “I have so much fun going fast and pushing myself to the limit on downhill skis. There’s nothing else I would rather do.
“So if I could physically continuing skiing, then I absolutely will. But at this point it takes a lot to make my knee good enough to ski downhill. It has to be pretty solid to push yourself at these speeds and be able to trust it.’’
At the downhill race, Vonn said, she’ll use the same aggressive approach that she used in the Super-G, when a wide turn late in the race cost her a likely medal. Vonn said her strategy calls on her to “absolutely give it everything I have.’’
“And I will be satisfied no matter what,’’ she said. “Because, like I said, in the Super-G even though everyone thinks I sucked, I skied 99 percent of the course well and I gave it my all.’’
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