After painful weekend, Lindsey Vonn considers early retirement

This weekend was supposed to mark the beginning of Lindsey Vonn’s farewell tour, but it might have been the end.

After failing to finish the super-G at a World Cup race in Cortina d’Ampezzo, an Italian venue where she had enjoyed so much success in the past, Vonn suggested the pain from her surgically repaired knees might force her to stop racing immediately.

“I’m not sure if I can keep going,” she was quoted as saying on the U.S. Ski and Snowboard website. “I have to really think things through the next few days and make some hard decisions.”

With 82 career victories on the World Cup circuit, Vonn stands only five wins short of breaking the all-time record held by Swedish legend Ingemar Stenmark.

Injuries forced her to miss the start of the season, which she planned as her last. The results from this weekend, which included ninth- and 15th-place finishes in the downhill, might convince her to skip the next tour stop in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany.

“It’s just hard,” she said. “I thought it would be easier, honestly, but it’s not.”

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While Cortina served as a harsh realization for Vonn — she has 12 career victories there — it offered fellow American Mikaela Shiffrin a chance to continue her domination on the world stage.

Shiffrin won Sunday to remain atop the super-G standings, surviving a difficult course that prevented 22 skiers from finishing.

“I was just trying to trust my line and be aggressive,” she said. “And yeah, I’m a little bit lucky.”

david.wharton@latimes.com

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