Team USA Women’s Hockey Wins Gold Medal

Vonn won a bronze medal in the downhill, but skied out of Thursday’s slalom leg of the Alpine combined in what was likely her last Olympic race.

Third behind the USA’s Lindsey Vonn and Norway’s Ragnhild Mowinckel after the downhill section, the 24-year-old Gisin held her nerve in the slalom to overhaul Shiffrin’s target time by 0.97 seconds, as the snow began to fall thick and fast.

It’s unlikely the bronze medal Lindsey Vonn won in the women’s downhill Wednesday at the 2018 Winter Olympics will end up prominently displayed by her father, Alan Kildow.

“Get more experience of my World Cup venues, just get more experience on my speed skis, to get more comfortable with that speed”, she said.

And another medal for the Gisin household.

Winning a final Olympic downhill gold was always going to be an uphill climb for Vonn.

“The best ever. It makes everything more lovely”, Michelle Gisin said. She refused, telling Alfonsi, “I will use my body to the best of my ability until it can no longer function”.

As one of the most recognisable sportswomen in the world, Vonn has brought more than a little stardust to the slopes and the absence of Tiger Woods’s ex-girlfriend from the Olympics will be sorely felt.

Her win made her the oldest woman to medal in the event at age 33.

Earlier in the evening, Vonn dominated the downhill portion of the ladies’ alpine combined; her 1:39.37 time almost a full second better than her competitors. “I am really proud of this medal, and I know he is, too”.

On Thursday, Vonn revealed she recently scattered some of her grandfather’s ashes on a rock near the mountain where the downhill races were run. But delays in the schedule forced Shiffrin to withdraw from two events and she fell to fourth in her best event, the slalom, after a battle with nerves prior to one of her runs. Anderson found herself leading for most of the finals of the event, until she was knocked to the second step on the podium by the final competitor in Anna Gasser of Austria. To be on the podium with a friend and teammate?

“It was intense”, she said. “I started posting like wild so people were probably like what, we haven’t heard from her in three weeks”.

Vonn looked skyward and blew kisses in the air, a tribute to her grandfather, who passed away a year ago. Only Miller (twice, in 2002 and 2010), Mancuso (in 2010), Vonn (also in 2010) Andrea Mead Lawrence (in 1952) and Gretchen Fraser (1948) have won two Alpine medals in a single Games.

But Vonn offered some words of caution about Shiffrin, who for quite some time, fairly or not, has been labeled “The Next Lindsey Vonn“. She may not have taken home gold as many were hoping, but finishing in the top three in the world’s most prestigious competition isn’t half bad. She now has three Olympic medals to her name; Shiffrin won gold in giant slalom last week, and took gold in slalom in 2014.

“It’s amusing, because every time I hear anybody saying anything about this it’s “most likely, probably, maybe, we’ll see but not sure”, she said”.

Knight thought that knowing this would be the close of Vonn’s Olympic downhill career informed her performance.

Shiffrin , 22, has already racked up 41 World Cup victories and could realistically target not only that record but also many more Olympic and world championship medals. That goes with the gold from the 2010 Games. “I’ve never actually had time after an Olympics to enjoy it, so I’m going to”. I have had a lot of ups and downs, mostly downs, in that time. “That’s why you have to appreciate every moment that you have, because ski racing has a way of taking a lot from you”. “It’s been a great ride”.