Lindsey Vonn: Olympic Skier from Vail Retiring Because of Knees
Vail's Lindsey Vonn is one of the world's best skiers and has accomplished a lot in her career. She's won 82 World Cups win, 20 World Cup titles, 3 Olympic medals and 7 World Championship medals.
She planned to retire in December, but her plans have changed due to her knees. Lindsey has had surgery on both knees and was experiencing extreme pain due to recent crashes and surgery. According to Vail Daily, she failed to finish a race in Italy last month which lead her to this decision.
Lindsey Vonn will compete at the World Championships in Downhill in Sweden, and they will be the last races of her career.
As you can imagine, this wasn't an easy decision to make for her. She wrote this on her Instagram:
It's been an emotional 2 weeks making the hardest decision of my life, but I have accepted that I cannot continue ski racing.
Lindsey continued to describe some of her recent injuries and therapy and said:
My body is broken beyond repair and isn't letting me have the final season I dreamed of. My body is screaming at me to STOP and it's time for me to listen.
She finishes off her Instagram post thanking everyone for the support and sending out lots of love. We're all so proud of you, Lindsey and we can't wait to see what you'll do next.