Original subtitles

-(CROWD CHEERING) -♪ (DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYS) ♪

(WHISTLE BLOWS)

And then, he says, "By the way, Dad,

how many headsets did you break this year?"

(BOTH LAUGH)

NICK SABAN: We go back a long ways,

and we had experiences that we both kinda learned from.

In retrospect, it might've been better for us had we lost one

somewhere along the way.

SABAN: But when you get to the top of the mountain,

you become the mountain.

♪ (MUSIC CONCLUDES) ♪

(theme music playing)

Announcer: The following is a presentation of HBO Sports.

(wind blowing)

Lindsey Vonn: It's been a really long road.

This part of my life is now going to be over.

(cheering, whistling)

It's hard to really...

describe the emotions that I've been feeling

the last few weeks since making the decision.

(cheering, whistling)

Commentator 1: The American, Lindsey Vonn...

Commentator 2: Began her skiing career in Minnesota...

Commentator 3: She always comes back firing...

Commentator 4: That is how dominant she has been...

Commentator 5: Greatest American skier of all time...

Commentator 6: Perfect line. Vonn keeping it close,

Soutter watching on...

-And she's got it! -(cheering)

Commentator 7: Can't be surprised,

and the fans, they got what they came for.

Lindsey: I know that I should be happy, and...

I am happy, you know, I really...

I am, but a part of me is still disappointed.

My body has finally failed me.

Commentator 1: Lindsey Vonn just moments away from

loading into the gate.

Commentator 2: And this is a woman that has brought

power and fearlessness to sport

in a way that few other athletes ever have.

Lindsey: I hope that I can end up on top for my last race.

That's how I've always wanted it to go.

Heinz Haemmerle: Kick ass, baby. Get this last one. Game on!

Lindsey: But this season definitely hasn't been

at all what I had expected.

(sobbing)

It's really scary to think about

not having something that I love so much.

Lindsay Winninger: You gotta get fired up to go.

Haemmerle: Show them what's gonna happen, baby!

You're still here! Game on!

Commentator: A career that has spanned more than 18 years,

over 14 Olympic starts, 25 World Championship starts,

393 World Cup starts.

This is the 432nd, and final time,

Lindsey Vonn will load into a start gate.

Lindsey: It's just really hard to accept,

but I do know that it's over.

-Haemmerle: Come on, Lindsey, game on! -Winninger: Come on, let's go!

(crowd cheering)

(footsteps crunching snow)

-Lindsey: Hey, Heinz. -Haemmerle: Good morning.

(chattering)

Narrator: Lindsey Vonn is the most successful female racer

in the history of Alpine skiing.

She's won dozens of medals, set a multitude of records,

and now has returned to the racing circuit

for one final season,

chasing one final piece of history:

the record for most World Cup victories

by any skier ever.

With 82 wins in her career,

she's currently five short of the all-time mark.

But with training for the upcoming season beginning,

there are signs that navigating the final steps to history

will be arduous.

Lindsey: It's like it hurts a lot, but I'm just stiff.

-I'll try to do one run and we'll see how it goes. -Winninger: All right.

Narrator: Lindsey Vonn and pain--

they've become intimately acquainted over the years.

Still, she's persevered through any and all adversity

for the chance to relish

the sensation of top speed once more.

Coach 1 (over radio): Yeah, ladies up top.

You have some shadows crossing the track,

so just be aware that with the visibility,

it's harder to see some of that terrain in there,

but no problem.

Coach 2 (over radio): Okay, course is clear for Lindsey.

Winninger: Let's go, Linds, come on.

(heart thumping)

Lindsey: My favorite part about downhill and about skiing in general

is the adrenaline.

If you're driving on the highway,

stick your head out the window.

That's the speed we feel on our face

when we're going down an icy slope at,

you know, 80 miles an hour.

Commentator 1: Off she goes, Lindsey Vonn.

Commentator 2: Look at her. I mean-- uh!-- just the aggressiveness,

like the conviction of the way she skis.

She makes it happen, period.

Commentator 3: You almost don't hear her,

and she is building speed-- a freight train.

Commentator 1: And look at that! She's moved into the lead

by nine-one-hundreths now!

Highest speed we've seen so far.

You gotta wonder, Doug, is she feeling the nerves.

Oh man, she is in fifth gear right now.

She is crushing it!

Look at her, holding the top where no one else did.

Vonn wants it so bad.

I think it's gonna be-- And Vonn! Yes!

Lindsey Vonn has done it! Look at that!

-(cheering) -A superhero today!

What an effort! What a day!

Lindsey: The adrenaline, I just can't find it in anything else.

It's like a superhero drug.

You just want more. Give me more.

♪ Gonna teach just how to blow your mind... ♪

Commentator 1: Oh, that's beautiful.

The best rush out there you can imagine.

It's a super free feeling

of having control over something

that seems like it shouldn't be controlled.

♪ No other way ♪

Lindsey: It doesn't matter what you look like.

It just matters how fast you get from the top to the bottom.

Commentator: Whoa! she got her tips up there!

Lindsey: When I am really on the limit...

Commentator: Oh boy! Almost lost it right there,

but what an amazing recovery!

Lindsey: Those are my fastest runs, although,

very difficult to replicate. (laughs)

-Commentator 1: Oh! What? -Commentator 2: Down goes Vonn!

Oh, and directly into the B net.

Street: There's a lot of unpredictability.

Alex Hoedlmoser: If you're a basketball player, you go to a court,

and the court is always the same.

In downhill racing, it's always different.

Street: The snow conditions are changing,

the visibility is changing, the light's going in and out

from dark to light.

Bode Miller: You're dealing with four or five Gs in turns--

the wrong thing happening at the wrong time,

and your body comes apart.

Commentator: Oh! In trouble, and Vonn is down!

Vonn had it all together...

Lindsey: I'm gonna always crash.

That's just a part of the job. You're gonna crash,

but it's worth it 'cause I love what I do.

Commentator 1: Well, she's changed downhill skiing for the entire field.

Commentator 2: Lindsey Vonn to the-- She got it!

Lindsey Vonn somehow finds 66/100ths of a second!

♪ Now and forever, oh, oh... ♪

Alan Kildow: Get close, get close, get close, get close!

February 26, 1994.

This is Lindsey at Buck Hill.

Lindsey's on course.

Narrator: It all began for Lindsey Vonn on Buck Hill,

a tiny ski area in Minnesota

where she went just about as often as possible

with her father, Alan, a former ski racer,

who saw in his oldest daughter a chance to live out the dreams

that had been taken away from him.

Alan: Not a great run.

Now finishing the turn on the downhill ski.

Alan: I started ski racing at 10.

At 17, became junior national champion.

I was eventually three-time national junior champion.

I skied in World Cups.

Hurt my knee, and that was the end of my career.

Lindsey: My dad loved ski racing.

He's always loved racing.

He definitely put a lot of that passion

into me in helping me achieve my dreams.

Alan: There's little Lindsey, the first in line, as usual.

Karin Kildow: Skiing has been a huge part of our family.

It was never a question of if you wanted to ski,

or when you wanted to ski. You just had to do it.

Reed Kildow: It was usually just Lindsey leading the pack

with all the kids falling behind.

More than she even likes skiing,

she likes to win.

And she's a competitor at everything.

Lindsey: Look at this cliff! Is this not some extreme skiing? Look at it.

You gonna do it, Reed?

Lindy Lund: All five of them had the same chance,

but only Lindsey wanted to do it.

She skied all the time.

She started racing, I think, at eight.

She didn't think anything of it. She loved it.

-Alan: Here comes Lindsey. -Coach: She's got that aggressive Kildow style.

Alan: Yeah, get back in there.

Lindsey: Buck Hill was so small, we really only could train.

That was really the only fun thing to do.

That's what made me love training.

(man yodeling)

(yodeling)

Well, this is where Lindsey grew up, you know?

This is where she learnt it.

From here!

Erich Sailer was my father's coach.

He was from Austria, then he moved

to Minnesota and created his own program at Buck Hill.

Narrator: You'll find any measure of the unusual at Buck Hill.

Ample night skiing at the tiny mountain

rising just 262 feet, for one.

And also the legendary coach who runs the place,

and is known far and wide

for turning children into champions.

Boy: I just came to Buck yesterday. I'm from Park City.

-You are from Park City, you moved here? -Yeah.

-And you want to get good here? -Yeah.

Sailer: Well, I was a ski racer myself,

so I had the background for teaching the basics.

Half the ski, not pushing them out to make sliding,

-Yeah. -...and you hold it on the edge.

That would be the right thing to do.

Alan: Erich is the consummate ski technician.

He drills the technique into the kids.

There's a small hill.

You go up and down it on a rope tow,

and you repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat.

Lindsey: And you think it's unassuming. You're like,

"Oh, you just hold onto a rope,"

but it'll break your neck if you're not ready for it.

You can do a lap in under two minutes.

Sailer: Go, go, go! Yes, go!

Lindsey: That's why Erich's had so many kids

come out of his program go to the Olympics.

He's had six Olympic athletes from Buck Hill.

Sailer: Lindsey, there were no signs that she was gonna be a big,

fantastic ski racer.

Everything she do was very easy,

and went to have a little chocolate,

and I called her, actually, the Turtle

because she was so slow.

(in Austrian accent): "Poor Alan. He has a turtle for a daughter."

Alan: Here comes Lindsey now. She's really-- Erich's right.

She's really slowing down.

Sailer: But she wanted to be fast. She wanted to do it.

She was here every night.

Always the first on the lift and the last one to go home.

Man: You got a skier there, Alan.

-(indistinct chatter) -Alan: Yeah.

Lindsey: My dad was a tough coach,

but also always someone that

I've relied on for guidance and advice.

(Lindsey speaks)

-Kildow (laugh): Don't use that word. -All right.

Lindsey: When I was nine, I told my dad that I wanted to be

in the Olympics, and he helped me make a plan,

and he told me if I wanted to be in the Olympics,

I had to win this level and at this level,

and he kind of walked me through the process.

Third place, Lindsey Kildow from Central.

(cheering)

Alan: When you've got a child that's got that kind of

drive and ability,

and there's something that's just innate there,

what you have to do is,

in a certain way, get out of the way,

but in a certain way, you've gotta involve yourself

to give them the opportunity.

When Lindsey showed talent

for speed skiing, we came to Vail.

Because I had left Wisconsin and come to Vail

when I was 16 years old,

and so this was the natural place to go.

I honestly didn't even know that that was our plan.

It kind of started slowly where Lindsey would always have to go

to camps in Colorado.

And so, my mom and Lindsey would go

for a couple weeks and come back.

The couple weeks turned into a couple months,

and then Dad was like, okay, we're all gonna go to Vail

to visit Mom and Lindsey while she's racing.

We got there, and Dad was like,

well, actually, you're gonna stay here.

Alan: It just made more sense for us all to be together,

as a family.

And I, of course, love Vail, so...

Lindsey: It was a shock, I think, to my brothers and sisters,

and a very tough transition for them.

We moved into like a three-bedroom condo,

but we were with seven people in a three-bedroom condo.

Dad was still working as a lawyer in Minnesota

to have enough money to sustain our skiing, the condo,

and my mom was kind of like holding down the fort in Vail.

I remember them fighting all the time.

Money was always tight.

My mom was taking care of five kids.

I helped out as much as I could.

It definitely put a strain on everybody.

Lund: I think she realized at a young age that

we were changing our lives for her.

Alan: Hooked around. Hang in there, sweetheart.

That ain't half bad.

Lund: So, that's a lot of pressure.

I wouldn't want to be under that pressure.

Narrator: Lindsey would flourish under that pressure,

making the US Ski Team when she was just 16,

and moving to Park City, Utah, to train full-time.

Her parents' marriage, meanwhile, had fallen apart.

During my parents' divorce,

things were just hard for all of us.

Um, you know, my family had moved back to Minnesota at that point,

and I was out in Utah,

so I just kind of grew apart from my whole family.

I was young, I didn't know how to handle it,

and the only rock in my life was skiing.

(crowd cheering)

(announcer speaking indistinctly)

Narrator: All these years later,

her life remains very much anchored around skiing.

Yet the sport she loves so much

has taken a toll on her body.

(radio chattering)

Man, I'm so fucking old.

(chuckles)

Lindsey: My neck hurts. My knee hurts.

(radio chatter continues)

Narrator: Every part, it seems, has absorbed the punishment at one point or another.

-Her right knee, though... -Right there, huh?

Narrator: ...the one that's been through four surgeries and counting

is the biggest concern heading into this season.

Lindsey: There's no one that's as old as I am out there.

Let's go... (indistinct)

I mean, my body at 24 was crazy.

I mean, I crashed a ton and nothing ever happened.

Now, you know, I just have so many things wrong.

It's like Whac-A-Mole.

You know? It's like...

trying to put out one fire at a time.

This right here. Oh yeah.

The bones twist right there.

Lindsey: It wasn't this bad before.

Woman (over radio): Is Lindsey in the gate?

Winninger: All right, Linds, let's go. Go!

Thomas Hackett: Ski racing is an inherently dangerous sport.

NFL has a lot of injuries and concussions,

but you also have pads and you're on a soft surface.

Imagine being a speed skier on a downhill course,

with three millimeters of neoprene on you and a helmet.

They're pushing the envelope, and, unfortunately,

when they do get injured,

the injuries can be pretty heavy.

Racing downhill is as dangerous as it gets.

You know, one mistake, and...

and, uh, it could be the ultimate price.

-Commentator 1: This woman-- -Commentator 2: Whoa! Ouch!

She's down and into the orange...

The best example would be go 80 miles an hour in your car,

and just hop out your car.

Street: When you think about the reality

of the dangers, what could happen,

it's definitely kind of an eye-opener.

Commentator: Oh, goodness!

Where is he going?

Street: In any given time,

fatality is... is lingering.

Commentator: He's in trouble! He's down!

What an ugly impact that was.

Narrator: Roughly a dozen ski racers have died in accidents

in training or competition over the last few decades.

Commentator: Oh, he's getting a little tied up and--

Lindsey: We all know it. We don't really like to talk about it,

but it's the risk that we all take every day

when we're in the starting gate.

I've definitely been lucky

in the first part of my career that, you know, nothing worse

came out of any of my crashes.

Commentator: Vonn over the top!

And she is down heavily!

Lindsey: Starting in 2013, I tore my ACL,

tore my MCL off the bone...

(overlapping): ...had a tibial plateau fracture, then, I retore my ACL...

...tore apart my meniscus... ...eight sutures on my medial side...

...reconstructed my ACL again...

...seven sutures on my lateral side...

I shattered my arm, nerve damage...

...eighteen screws... Broke my wrist, broke my ankle.

I've had some pretty bad concussions.

There's been a lot.

Hackett: This is an X-ray of Lindsey's knee

that we took just a couple of months ago.

The difference between her right knee here and the left knee,

she's getting all these bone spurs growing up,

it's more narrow.

The knee is now really getting to be,

kind of what we call bone-on-bone,

which means there's not much bearing surface, not much cartilage.

This is the knee of somebody that's almost 60 years old.

It's pretty remarkable that she's been racing at the level

she's been racing at with a knee like this.

-(voices chattering) -(footsteps crunching snow)

Narrator: It is the fine line she toes more gingerly than ever,

knowing the risk she takes

every time she goes down the mountain.

As a personal team of coaches and technicians

all focus on ensuring every day of training is optimized.

Let's go, Linds, come on.

Lindsey: I can't do anything without my team.

Coach (over radio): Lindsey on course.

Lindsey: On the hill, we need to have a good plan.

Heinz has to make my skis fast.

Claire has to make sure I'm not doing

a million interviews so that I can actually focus on what I'm doing.

We're more like a family than a team.

We're all focused on the same thing, which is

having me win races and being the best that I can be.

Alex Bunt: This is just a daily well-being review sheet that Lindsey fills out.

Subjectively measure her fatigue, sleep,

soreness, stress, and mood.

Let's us know when to back off

-and when we can continue to push her. -Oh!

Hoedlmoser: We get the feedback from Alex, how she's doing in the gym.

With all that information, we can adjust the load on the hill.

Lindsey: Should be good for two or three.

-Better than nothing. -Yeah.

Patrick Riml: If she can ski three runs a day, that's perfect.

You gotta make sure that she leaves every training session

pain-free and happy.

Oblique feels fine on this side?

Winninger: We have recovery strategies.

There's daily physical therapy sessions,

you know, so that we kind of keep the machine going.

Lindsey: I've a lot of restrictions at this point in my career.

I can't run, I can't jump really.

I can't do a lot of things that

pretty much every other athlete on the World Cup is doing.

Winninger: When you've had the number of injuries that Lindsey has had,

the focus becomes fewer runs,

but really quality runs.

Lindsey: I feel like my skiing is at a good point,

where I'm confident in what I'm doing.

It's not that I need to work on my technique

at this point in my career so much as finding out the best equipment.

Lindsey: Which one are we taking now?

Haemmerle: Number two.

Lindsey: Every run, I'll have a different pair of skies

that Heinz wants information on.

Is this ski fast? Does it turn well?

Do I like it? Do I not like it?

Haemmerle: Working for Lindsey is something special.

Her focus is not being second.

Her focus is winning,

and I, I have the same focus.

Lindsey: We call him Magic Heinz.

He's like the guru of all ski technicians.

He has wax that he's hidden away from like

20 years ago that they don't make anymore that

no one even knows exists.

Narrator: Of all the specialized jobs in ski racing,

ski technicians, like Heinz Haemmerle,

carry perhaps the most conspicuous mystique...

dedicating countless hours tuning and waxing

the devices to make them as fast as possible on the snow.

Lindsey: He's in small, unheated garages,

tuning my skis until three in the morning.

Narrator: Nearly a decade ago, Haemmerle suggested

to Vonn that she start racing on men's skis,

specifically, Olympic gold medalist Bode Miller's.

Miller: Everyone said the same thing, all the techs, all the coaches,

she can't ski on men's, she's gonna blow her knee out, or she's gonna hurt herself,

and I was like, look, a good ski is a good ski.

Lindsey: Bode had the stiffest skis

of anyone on the World Cup, man or woman.

I started skiing on them and I loved them.

They were so much more stable.

I could get so much more power out of every turn.

Commentator 1: Lindsey Vonn-- I believe it's the first time

I've ever heard of it on the World Cup--

skiing on men's downhill skis.

Commentator 2: They're longer, they're stiffer,

but she's able to handle it. She's that good.

Lindsey: Women are capable of skiing on men's skis.

It's not like it's impossible.

We just-- No one ever thought of it before.

Commentator: That had been close up until now.

Lindsey Vonn has got it

by a second!

Winninger: Lake Louise is just around the corner.

Those are the opening speed races of the year,

and so she's prepping for that right now.

She always looks forward to Lake Louise

because she's had a pretty strong track record there.

Lindsey: Lake Louise has always been

a really important place for me on the World Cup.

Narrator: In fact, she's won at Lake Louise

a staggering 18 times,

including at least once every year

from 2004 to 2015.

(crowd cheering)

Commentator: No woman has won more downhills in her career in Lake Louise

than Lindsey Vonn.

And now, she hits the finish line

into the lead once again.

Narrator: This year, as usual,

the venue will host the first three

speed races of the season.

Three separate chances for World Cup wins,

with Lindsey needing five to set the record

she so badly wants.

-(cheering) -Oh, I love this! Bye!

Lindsey: I really hope I can win at Lake Louise so I can have that confidence,

so I can have that momentum.

Normally, when I start off well in Lake Louise,

that's a good indication for the rest of the season.

(Lindsay speaking)

Two or three, we'll see how it goes.

How's the knee in warm-up?

It's still not as bad as it was before.

-But-- -But I'm looking for it to not to get to that point.

Well, yeah, but we're not skiing tomorrow.

I know, but I can't promise that it recovers in one day.

Yeah, it will.

Winninger: Since Lindsey's had four knee surgeries on that right knee,

we are definitely in a position this season

where it's very touch-and-go.

You know, another crash could end everything.

Coach: Lindsey, run two.

Oh, fuck.

(Ski Patrol speaking)

Narrator: The crash injures her left knee,

not the typically troublesome right one,

but it's still a cause for concern.

Just 10 days before the World Cup opening races

in Lake Louise.

-Doctor: I Looked at the MRI. -Lindsey: And?

Your ACL, PCL, MCL are fine.

-(sighs) -Okay?

You have a couple of non-displaced fractures.

(whispers): All right, okay, okay.

-Okay. -Which is good because they're not displaced.

The LCL on the outside is the only one

-I need to look in close and examine you, okay? -Okay.

-Hurt very much? -No.

That's where the pain is coming from, but when you--

The non-displaced fracture is right in here,

-but not back here. -Right there. Okay.

So, it's kind of hard to tell if this is

like a two-week thing or a six-week thing.

-Okay. -I don't think I can get you back in 10 days.

-(doctor speaks indistinctly) -Yeah.

All right, let me see if I can get those pulled up.

Okay. Thank you.

I can get back by Lake Louise, I'll be fine.

Karin (chuckling): By Lake Louise?

Yeah, I'm not missing Lake Louise.

-Zero chance of it. -(Karin laughs)

Winninger: This extends down towards your tibial tubercle.

-This the other side, so it does extend on both sides. -Wow.

Oh, there's no chance I can ski Lake Louise.

-I don't think so, Linds. -(sighs heavily)

I'm gonna call early January.

In terms of throwing in the towel, that's not where we're at, okay?

That's not where we're at at all.

Your initial thoughts?

Winninger: While it's not ideal, there hasn't been one situation

in the last five years that's been ideal.

You've come back and won every single time.

Lindsey: It's not like I choose to be dramatic.

It's not like I choose to have these injuries

and comebacks. I'm just trying to race.

Like, I'm just trying to win races, that's all I'm trying to do.

If you wanna win a downhill race,

you can't... you can't be afraid,

and... I think that's what's been my biggest asset.

Possibly my biggest downfall... (chuckles)

in my career, but it definitely allowed me

to win as many times as I have.

-(cheering) -Commentator: Lindsey Kildow coming to the bottom.

Oh, what a margin!

1.24 seconds for Lindsey Kildow

-who moves into first! -Oh my God!

Narrator: It wasn't long after joining the US ski team

that Lindsey met Thomas Vonn,

a fellow ski racer nine years her senior.

Lindsey: I had never dated anyone when I got on the US ski team.

Like, I didn't know what I was getting into,

and I feel like I missed 10 steps in my childhood, you know.

I didn't really go to high school. I didn't go to prom.

I didn't like have these experiences that teach you certain things.

I just kind of went straight into adulthood.

We just started dating, and my parents were getting divorced,

and so, I kind of needed somebody to lean on,

and I leaned on him.

Narrator: And as their connection grew,

her bond with her father began to break apart.

Lindsey: My dad didn't like the fact that

Thomas was so much older than me.

They had talked a few times and...

it really did not go well.

Not to create controversy, but it's, uh--

She would readily admit that that's the one place

where she and I part company.

I didn't like it at all.

It just came to a head really quickly,

and there wasn't really a lot to discuss.

It was...

You know, you gotta make a choice what you want, and, um...

I rebelled.

After that, my dad didn't come to any more races,

and we didn't talk for six years.

Narrator: Thomas soon became not just Lindsey's boyfriend,

but also her coach.

Lindsey: Thomas was a tech guy. He was very detail-oriented

and looked at skiing in a totally different way

than anyone else did.

Narrator: She'd go on to win

seven World Cup events over the next three years...

Commentator: Lindsey Kildow, she really went for it today.

-Narrator: ... before the couple got married in 2007. -(shrieks)

Lindsey: Got married when I was 22.

And my dad didn't come to the wedding.

I didn't invite him.

Karin: Lindsey went from one intense coach to another.

Every race she was winning,

and things were really rolling for her,

so some element of it was good,

but for her personal life, I don't think it was very good.

Commentator: Lindsey Vonn of the United States

just putting yet another

piece of hardware up on a sensational season.

The overall champion, the downhill champion for the year,

and still more racing ahead.

Final turn at the finish line for Lindsey Vonn,

-and yes, into the lead! -(screams)

And she knows that she has won herself another super-G,

and another disciplined title!

Lindsey: I'm just a hard worker, and I really wanna succeed

more than anything else in the world,

and what I want to become is

you know, somewhat of a, I don't know, legend.

I don't know if that's really the right word,

but I want people, you know, random people in New York City

to be like, "Oh, Lindsey Vonn," you know, "She's a skier."

Narrator: And in 2010, she had a golden chance

to realize that dream at the Vancouver Olympic Games.

(crowd cheering)

Commentator: Mancuso, Lindsey Vonn,

into the lead by more than a half-second.

-(screams) -(crowd cheering)

-(cheering) -Yeah!

Lindsey: Winning the gold medal in the Olympics was definitely the highlight of my career.

I wanted to call my dad after I won the gold medal,

but it was kind of, like, the norm for me at that time not to.

Thomas: Unbelievable.

Alan: To win a gold medal in the Olympics is kind of the ultimate.

And so when she won that in 2010, that was great.

(Interviewer speaking)

Uh, well, at that time, I didn't say anything.

And then, she went on from there.

Karin: It was just an eerie time at the Vancouver Olympics,

'cause our whole family giving up everything for this Olympic gold medal,

and then at the same time in the finish, you're like,

Dad is not allowed to be at the race,

and so he would go undercover and watch

from the stands and never be seen.

Commentator: She's the beautiful face of the successful US ski team,

a gold medalist, and recently became

the most decorated US skier

in World Cup history, passing the great

-Bode Miller. -Interviewer: You are on the top of your game.

Absolutely in the top of your game.

Lindsey: I mean, I'm always striving to do more, ski faster,

and I'm definitely gonna keep working as hard as I can

until my body just gives out.

Newswoman (on broadcast): Any injury does push back

the start of Vonn's final season.

Vonn previously announced her plan to retire

after the 2018-19 season,

regardless of whether or not she breaks

the all-time record for most World Cup wins.

And if Vonn can capture just one more win this season,

the 34-year-old will become the oldest woman

to win a World Cup race.

(laughs) Hmm...

Grandma Vonn.

Wow, thanks CBC.

Newswoman: Her body has reached its breaking point.

("Nonstop" by Drake playing)

-Winninger: Go. -Bunt: Let's do 80 today.

It's all about the breath.

Winninger: Javelin.

Yeah, Linds!

♪ Hey, this is a Rollie not a stopwatch ♪

♪ Shit don't ever stop ♪

Use max reps.

Winninger: With each injury, Lindsey is,

"Tell me what the plan is, tell me how long I'm out.

Just tell me what to do and I'll do it."

Narrator: The goal is to complete the rehab in six weeks,

and make an early January return

that would give her in the range of 13 races

to win the five she needs for the record.

Ambitious,

but with her resolve, not yet impossible.

Riml: She's physically strong, but I think she's also very stubborn.

If she wants to do something,

she's gotta make sure she's taking care of it.

-Everything up. Up, up, up. -All right.

Lindsey: Whenever I'm injured, I always think about my mom,

and it really puts things in perspective.

October 18th, 1984, I had Lindsey,

but I do not remember anything after getting to the hospital.

I had a stroke, and...

I do not remember anything for seven weeks.

Gradually, I came out of the coma,

but then I was paralyzed on my left side.

I couldn't hold her, I couldn't carry her.

It's kind of hard to have a baby and not be able to hold her.

Lindsey: She has a hard time balancing.

She can't run. She can't ride a bike.

She can't ski.

When I was young, my dad came up with this plan

that I would run a mile every weekend.

When he was out of town, it was my mom's job

to take me to the track.

And one day, I just didn't wanna do it. I mean, I hated running.

I've always hated running. It's always hurt me.

I told my mom, no, I'm not gonna do it.

And she started to try to run,

and it was such a struggle for her.

It was really hard to watch, so...

it really made me sad.

I mean, that's how much she cared.

And...

my injuries are all things

that I can overcome with hard work.

It's not like my mom where there is nothing she can do,

and having that perspective has been really important to me.

I don't like anyone telling me what I can or can't do,

including my knee.

-(grunts) -Nice.

Done.

(wind blowing)

-Is it gonna fit? -Yep.

Lindsey: But I'm like two weeks ahead of schedule

with the way it's healing.

Yeah, I do feel good about it.

As long as we can train hard, I'll be good to go.

Narrator: By New Year's, the momentum and progress

in her recovery has Lindsey on her way

to rejoining the US ski team in Europe,

with the heart of the World Cup season

once again playing out.

With stops across two continents,

and hundreds of thousands of impassioned fans,

the World Cup tour is one of the most popular sporting events on the planet.

(crowd roaring)

(shouting)

Lindsey: The World Cup in ski racing is the biggest deal.

I think a lot of people have a misconception about skiing

that we just do the Olympics and maybe the World Championships,

but, you know, the World Cup is

what all of us ski racers focus on.

(cheering)

Narrator: The all-time record for World Cup victories

belongs to the legendary Swedish skier Ingemar Stenmark,

who, in 1989, won his 86th and final World Cup race,

the record that, three decades later,

Lindsey Vonn is so hungrily chasing.

(applause)

(church bell ringing)

She's the only skier to even come close

to Stenmark's record,

with her 82 wins

far past anyone else on the all-time list.

And now, back in the old country,

the hope is there's enough time left to chase history.

(ringing fades)

(chattering)

(Lindsey speaks)

(Heinz speaks)

-(Lindsey speaks) -(Heinz speaks)

Coach: You're clear, Lindsey.

Come on!

Coach (over radio): Lindsey on course.

Narrator: For now, simply getting back on the mountain

to train is a huge victory.

With her belated season debut planned

for next week in St. Anton, Austria.

Haemmerle: Yeah!

Now, we're talking!

I really liked the top because this time, you were really moving.

-(girl speaks) -Yeah.

(Lindsey speaking German)

Okay, yeah. (speaks German)

-(skis clack) -Come on, Lindsey.

Come on!

Lindsey: You know, I didn't really know what to expect

when I got on the snow and it actually felt great.

-Man 1: Feel better? Yeah? -Lindsey: I'm good, thank you.

-Knee's getting better? -Yeah, getting better.

-Good luck for the season. -Thank you. Thank you.

-Man 2: Glad to see you back. Really happy. -Thank you. Appreciate it.

There is a reason why I come back faster.

It's because I put in more time.

I do two therapy sessions a day

plus my workouts.

I definitely think it's possible to break this record.

I won five races last year,

and that's what I need to break the record this year is five.

Narrator: A successful comeback would be merely the latest

in a long line of returns from the brink.

The latest rejection of the hand that fate has dealt her.

Lindsey: I feel like it's because I'm always on the limit here.

You really have to push it,

and sometimes when you're pushing the limit,

you make mistakes, but...

thankfully, I'm still standing,

and I'm in one piece basically,

so everything is good.

("7 Rings" by Ariana Grande playing)

Narrator: As for her personal life,

not long after winning gold at the 2010 Olympics,

she and Thomas separated.

Lindsey: Mixing business with a relationship

is not a recipe for success.

I just wanted to be happy, and I didn't care

about what would happen if I got divorced.

I just wanted a divorce. I saw it as the only solution

to making my life better.

I needed help with my divorce. I called my dad.

He's a lawyer, so he knew what to do.

There is a certain predictability to it.

a certain inevitability to it.

It took us a while to get back to normal conversation,

but he helped me get out of it and back on my feet.

Commentator: Lindsey Vonn, out on the course.

♪ Been through some bad shit, I should be a sad bitch ♪

♪ Who woulda thought it'd turn me to a savage... ♪

Lindsey: I remember an article, it begged the question

would I be able to ski fast without a man by my side.

And that drove me insane.

Commentator 1: And has done it by a huge margin!

Commentator 2: Lindsey Vonn dominates this field.

Lindsey: The biggest problem was I always thought that my value

came because someone else said it.

Having the best season of my career right after my divorce

was the best thing that could happen to me

because I finally was getting confidence off the hill.

Photographer: Lindsey! This way, Lindsey!

Lindsey: I kept Thomas's name

because it's like my alter ego.

When I am in a starting gate, that's my character.

-Commentator 1: Lindsey Vonn! -(crowd cheering)

Commentator 2: How does she do it?

Commentator 3: That is embarrassing for the rest of the field.

♪ Gee, thanks, just bought it ♪

♪ I see it, I like it, I want it, I got it ♪

Lindsey: Unfortunately, that following season was the season

that I tore my ACL.

David Letterman: Do you mind if we show the footage

-of the crash? Okay. -Oh, go for it.

How fast are you going here, Lindsey?

-Lindsey: I don't know, 75. -Letterman: 75? Oh...

Lindsey: Had I not been as confident

as I was at that point, I would've...

probably quit.

First time you get back up on skis,

was there a certain measure of, oh my God,

I just don't know if I can perform the way I did before?

-Do you have that in your head a little bit? -Nope.

-Wow, that's remarkable. -(applause)

♪ If I like it, then that's what I get ♪

♪ I want it, I got it ♪

♪ I want it, I got it ♪

♪ I want it, I got it ♪

♪ I want it, I got it ♪

Commentator: And now, in just her second race back,

Lindsey Vonn is into the lead

once again in Lake Louise, Canada!

Yeah!

Hoda Kotb: Your life has gone up and down, and in a very public way,

-and you feel like you've grown a lot through that pain. -I have.

Yeah. I was married, I was divorced,

I was dating Tiger, I was not dating Tiger.

I've had many, many injuries.

I won Olympics, I missed Olympics, and, um,

throughout all of it, I always found

my strength on the mountain.

I finally feel like I'm confident and I...

I'm healthy, and everything is just working out really well.

-Kathy: You speak with great honesty and candor... -Hoda: Yeah.

-You're so lovable. -Thank you so much.

(distant voices echoing)

Narrator: A week after arriving in Europe,

Lindsey appears poised for her latest comeback.

Set to compete in two events in Saint Anton, Austria,

if only the weather, always a factor in the sport,

would cooperate.

Hoedlmoser: As you all heard now,

the race in Saint Anton got canceled

because of all the snow that's there, and...

there's no decision made yet

where they gonna make up the races,

but there's a really good chance in Cortina

that there's something going on.

Lindsey: Puts a little more pressure on me

because I kind of go into Cortina

without having raced in the place where

I have won a lot, so it's expected

that I win and that's...

kind of an unfair expectation since I...

haven't really skied,

and I've got no LCL (scoffs), but no one knows that.

Narrator: So, for better or worse, Lindsey and her team

travel to Cortina D'Ampezzo, Italy,

to rejoin the World Cup tour at another site

where she's enjoyed ample success,

from the very beginning of her career

to one of its greatest peaks.

(cheering)

So, Lindsey, Cortina, obviously a very special venue for you

with 12 of your 82 World Cup wins coming here,

and I could definitely sense your excitement

when we were driving in today.

How does it feel to be making your return here in Cortina?

I love Cortina. I think everybody

here knows that.

It's where I got my first podium.

I remember calling my dad,

you know, saying that I finally made it.

That was kind of the first time that I felt like

I really belonged on the World Cup.

The other specific memory is,

obviously, breaking the win record, 63 wins.

I just have confidence here.

Announcer: Hello, Lindsey.

(Announcer speaking)

Commentator: The greatest American skier of all time.

Yesterday, in the downhill, pulled even

with the greatest female skier of all time,

and now a chance to have a page

in the history books all to her own.

Oh, look at this. Just smooth transition,

linking it up, so comfortable on this snow.

She is so confident. Unbelievable!

A record that has stood for 35 years,

and Lindsey Vonn

-across the line! -(cheering)

And that is looking like a legend in the making!

(cheering continues)

The magical number 63.

Lindsey: That weekend,

everything was lined up,

and I knew...

that I just had to execute.

I don't know, I just knew it was time.

(crowd cheering)

(wind blowing)

Narrator: To make up for the canceled events in Saint Anton,

the program in Cortina will now include three races

rather than two as originally planned.

A pair of downhills and a super-G.

Certainly looking to maximize her opportunities,

Lindsey will compete in all three.

Lindsey: I feel really good coming into Cortina.

Training went well in Reinswald,

but I haven't skied more than two days on in a row

since even before my crash.

Because I'm skiing with no LCL,

my leg is quite loose,

but I've definitely dealt with a lot of pain before,

and if I will myself to ski a fast run,

I can do it.

(crowd cheering)

(cheering)

Commentator: Well, it has been 309 days

since Lindsey Vonn last raced,

and now, after recovering from a knee injury,

-she is back in a World Cup start house. -Winninger: Here we go.

Get after it, Linds.

-Haemmerle: All yours. -Winninger: Go, Linds, you gotta go.

(shouts)

Commentator: Five victories away from becoming

the winningest racer of all time.

What are you watching for from her run today, Pino?

Pino: Just these early turns-- it's bumpy in here.

She's getting bumped. She's getting bumped around a lot.

Pino: Vonn said yesterday not interested

in second, third, or fourth.

Commentator: Of her 12 wins here for her career,

six have come in this downhill discipline.

South of seven-tenths back.

Pino: First 20 seconds, a little rough.

She got taken for a ride.

Commentator: After missing the first two months of the season,

Lindsey Vonn is into seventh place in Cortina, Italy.

(horn blowing)

-Claire: You lost it on that turn, huh? -Lindsey: Yeah.

You know, I just made one really big mistake,

and unfortunately that cost me a lot of time.

I feel like I'm a little bit behind the curve,

but, in general, uh,

I know what I'm capable of. I know I can win races.

Fix things for tomorrow, and, uh,

ski the course the way I know how.

-(Lindsey speaking German) -(speaks German)

Thank you.

Ciao!

Commentator: And now, Lindsey Vonn, 15th yesterday,

the second race today in her comeback

after 10 months out.

Come on, baby, get this.

It's yours, your course.

Winninger: Come on, Linds, new day.

Fly low, baby.

(clicks skis)

-Get this, baby. -Winninger: Come on, Linds.

-(cheering) -Get fired up here.

-Get fired up here, Linds, let's go! -Haemmerle: Yeah, baby!

Commentator: Pino, what do you expect to be different about

her downhill today from downhill number one this weekend?

Pino: I think she gets buoyed by being beaten,

and I know she was not happy with yesterday.

And there you can see Vonn, again,

backing away a little bit from the power.

Commentator: And leading some more time at the most recent interval.

Pino: One of the most challenging things for a skier

who's had a knee injury, recent knee injury,

is to ski across an icy surface.

Could still bring some time back.

Commentator: After finishing 15th in downhill number one,

she's fourth today for the moment at 1.3 seconds back.

Narrator: While her second trip down is better than her first,

by the time the event ends,

she slipped down the leaderboard to ninth.

There's one more race tomorrow, but already,

it's plain to see, with only nine races to go in the season,

how difficult her goal of breaking

Ingemar Stenmark's record is going to be.

(car rumbling)

(Heinz speaking)

(Lindsey speaks)

(Heinz speaks)

(Lindsey speaks)

-(Heinz speaks) -I know.

Narrator: So today, Sunday January 20th,

will be the third day in a row that she competes,

putting significantly more pressure on her knee

and undeniably feeling the effects.

Lindsey: I just feel like when I'm bending, something's not...

Pull it around. Good.

Try that.

Lindsey: Yeah.

(Lindsey speaks)

(buzzing)

Claire: Get it, okay? Show them.

Narrator: On one hand, it makes no sense--

putting herself through all this

after all she's already accomplished.

On the other hand, deciding to race

is deciding to do all she's ever known.

♪ Bite my tongue, bide my time ♪

♪ Wearing a warning sign ♪

♪ Wait till the world is mine ♪

♪ Visions I vandalize ♪

♪ Cold in my kingdom size ♪

♪ Fell for these ocean eyes ♪

♪ You should see me in a crown ♪

♪ I'm gonna run this nothing town ♪

♪ Watch me make 'em bow one by ♪

♪ One by one ♪

♪ One by, one by one ♪

♪ Count my cards, watch them fall ♪

♪ Blood on a marble wall ♪

♪ I like the way they all... ♪

Winninger: All right, Linds, new day.

New day right here.

You gotta get amped up. You know, you gotta charge,

top to bottom to get in there. Come on.

Announcer (over PA): Here's number eight,

the Queen of Speed of Cortina d'Ampezzo,

US of A,

Lindsey Vonn!

(cheering)

Winninger: All the way, Linds. All the way, top to bottom.

-This is yours, Linds. Fight for it, Lindsey. -Lindsey: Let's go!

(Haemmerle speaks indistinctly)

-Come on, let's go! -Go!

♪ You should see me in a crown... ♪

Commentator 1: And now, the final run in Cortina for Lindsey Vonn,

a six-time winner in the super-G on this hill.

Commentator 2: I'm very interested to see the level of aggression

that Vonn is... willing to take...

as she comes through here.

It is the very section that had given her

so much difficulty through the downhill,

and I would say the challenge even higher.

You see Vonn much more willing

to jump onto that right-footed ski.

-Winninger: Here we go. Come on, Linds. -Game on, baby.

-Winninger: Come on. -Haemmerle: Game on!

Commentator 1: At the second split,

Lindsey Vonn has brought some time back,

getting closer to the lead.

Commentator 2: Unbelievable that Vonn,

in such a challenging section,

skiing on a knee that is just hanging together

by shreds of cartilage.

This is pure will.

Oh no! And Vonn has skied out,

having made it through the most difficult part of the course...

-Ah, shit. -...and then just gets on the gas

a little bit too early.

And what a disappointing end

to Vonn's campaign in Cortina.

(cheering)

(announcer speaking indistinctly over PA)

(cheering)

(Lindsey sobbing)

Crowd: Lindsey! Lindsey! Lindsey!

(cheering)

(sobbing)

(radio chatters indistinctly)

Commentator 1: Over the final jump,

Mikaela Shiffrin looking to make it

three for three in super-Gs this season,

and she's got the lead today

in northern Italy!

(Lindsey speaks)

(Sofia Goggia speaking)

(Lindsey speaks)

(Sofia speaks)

Interviewer: Next up for the women head to Garmisch,

another venue where you've had tremendous success.

How are you feeling heading into another venue

where you have so much history?

I'm not sure if I'm going to Garmisch. I really...

I'm not sure.

I'm not sure if I can keep going.

(Winninger speaks)

(Lindsey speaks)

Winninger: You got it.

-Fan 1: Lindsey! -Fan 2: Lindsey, please, a picture!

Fans: You're amazing! You're wonderful!

We love you!

-Thank you for trying! -Lindsey: Thank you.

Girl: Lindsey!

Lindsey, this for you!

Lindsey: For me?

Thank you, thank you.

Fan: Lindsey! Please, please!

Fan: Lindsey!

(phone line ringing)

(Lindsey speaks)

I'm not gonna sit here and...

grind it out for no reason if I'm not able

to ski the way I wanna ski.

I always-- I always knew that

if there came a time when I can't win anymore,

I'm not skiing anymore. There's no reason...

to destroy my body if I'm not able

to ski the way I want and...

you know?

It's already gone too far.

I don't physically feel like I can do what I need to do.

And I understand that. And, you know...

That's why you have Winnie there.

That's why you have Bunt...

to get you ready again for a...

you know, the next thing, and...

if we see in Garmisch it's not gonna work out or whatever--

'cause it might be totally different.

I mean, we had situations last year

where you couldn't even do anything.

-Right? Coming into Cortina. -I know, but it's...

a lot worse than it was last year.

It really hurts.

-Like my whole leg shuts down. -Yeah.

Like I'm skiing on one leg,

and it's just...

I don't know if it's worth it.

I mean, we gotta keep on trying, right?

I mean, it's...

-You never give up. -(indistinct)

-You've never given up before. -(Winninger speaks indistinctly)

-Yeah? -Okay.

Yeah, I just need to think about it.

You know?

Yeah.

Claire: I think nobody knows how to come back

from something more than you do,

and I just want you do what's best for you.

I'm just hearing conversations yesterday with Alex,

and just know that

-this is your decision. -Lindsey: I know. I just,

I feel like everyone's trying to convince me

to keep going, and it's like...

-don't you think I'm trying everything I can? -Claire: For sure.

It's always a bummer that

everyone leaves right after.

And then the same thing happens even if I win.

Everyone leaves and that's like...

I get it. They wanna go home, but...

-Claire: You mean coaches and stuff? -Yeah.

-Claire: Yeah. -But it's like...

That just shows you, you know? It's like...

It's like anything else, like any other athlete.

-You're a commodity. -Yeah.

And when you extinguish your usefulness,

-they move on to the next one. -Yeah.

And I'm not gonna kill myself

-to make other people happy. -No.

'Cause I'm the one that has to live with it when I'm done.

I'm the one that has to walk around

-and... -Yeah.

I'm already gonna be limited. (laughs)

And you've got so much ahead of you,

you know? Like...

-Yeah. -So much.

Lindsey: A lot of people just don't understand

what I'm going through.

(crowd cheering)

It's a pretty extreme difference--

what you feel in the finish area

with all the people and everything,

to what you feel when you come home at the end of the day

and you're in a strange hotel room by yourself,

and I think that emotional swing

is really difficult to manage as an athlete

and as a human being.

And I think a lot of athletes go through it

where they do struggle with depression,

and people don't understand it

because all they see is, you know, the success

and all the glamorous parts about the sport,

but they don't see the hard work.

They don't see being alone.

They don't see all the things that

make it emotionally very difficult.

There's definitely times when, you know,

things have definitely dropped off.

(sighs)

In the past, I would slip into these funks

where I just shut myself in my room

and I try to, you know, understand my thoughts and feelings,

and I try to get a handle on it.

Sometimes, I'm better at doing that than others.

And that's why I got Lucy.

I really was sick of being-- coming home to an empty hotel room,

and I said I need something

that loves me, that will always be there.

(Lindsey grunts)

Oh, hey.

She doesn't care if I win races.

She has no idea what ski racing is. (chuckles)

Thank you.

And that just makes me a little bit happier

and makes my life just a little bit easier.

Narrator: The next World Cup stop

in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany,

is just five days away.

As she tries to determine her next move,

Vonn checks into a wellness hotel not far from the mountain.

And after a few days of contemplation there,

she makes a familiar decision:

Rehabbing the knee once more is worth a shot.

-Lindsey: Ow! My God! -Winninger: Okay, okay.

(chuckling): Okay, we found the worst spot.

It shouldn't be that sensitive.

-Do you want a hug? -Lindsey: No. Fuck.

-Get away from me. -(laughing)

Lindsey: I thought that the pain that I was experiencing

was from my bones hitting together.

As it turns out, I'm getting complete muscle shutdown

from my peroneal nerve.

We still haven't figured out how it happened,

but my whole lower leg is shutting off.

(whispers): I don't get it.

Seriously, can't we just, like,

inject something into it?

Like to calm it down? Like, can't we...

There's gotta be something we can do, right?

We need a little bit more time to figure this out.

Okay.

Narrator: The indefinite timeline means

she won't be able to race this weekend in Garmisch.

A few more rest days follow,

and then she returns to the gym

to search for new ways to handle the nerve pain.

Lindsey: The plan is try to get my nerve

to calm down so I can actually

do a single-leg squat, or even a double-leg squat.

-(man speaks indistinctly) -I can't.

(sighs)

(Lindsey speaking)

Winninger: Unfortunately, today's gym session

just didn't go very well. The nerve pain is pretty real.

You can kind of see it on her face.

Something's going on on the inside of the knee joint.

We need to, uh, get an MRI

and just kind of see what we're dealing with.

(Christian Fink speaking)

Lindsey: It's hitting the nerve?

So there's no real way that it's ever gonna get better?

-Like... -(Fink sighs)

-(Fink speaks) -No.

(Fink speaking)

-Yeah, yeah. -You cannot promise it.

Well, I'm not gonna do-- Like I am not gonna do another surgery to ski.

Like, I'm not gonna do it, so...

I've had enough surgeries.

So, can you just put a Band-Aid on it for right now?

-(Fink speaks) -I just need a Band-Aid.

Narrator: The "Band-Aid" is actually a procedure

to remove the extra fluid from the joint

and then inject a shot of cortisol,

a common fix for inflammation

that may be able to help get her down the hill a few more times.

Lindsey: Why am I doing it? I don't...

There's not a smart answer to that question.

I don't know. I can't end with that race in Cortina.

I just can't do it.

I need to...

try at least one more time.

Narrator: The next time she tests her knee

is a few days later in Austria.

Next week, as it happens, are the World Championships

in Are, Sweden,

and a chance for Vonn to return to action

under the brightest spotlight of the season.

Lindsey: For certain angles,

I'm trying to lay it over, that just doesn't work.

It's kind of like the feeling that I had...

you know, at the end of training everyday where I'm like,

"Nope, it hurts. It's time to stop."

That's how it feels all the time now.

I've got a lot of amazing people on my team.

That's the only reason that

I'm able to keep doing what I'm doing.

It's amazing to have that support,

but I think it also is really difficult

at this stage in my career

because I do feel like I'm letting everyone down.

The only person that I can listen to though,

honestly, is myself.

I don't really wanna listen to myself 'cause I don't...

wanna hear the answer, but...

it's what I need to do.

I basically feel like I'm just... just like making it down.

(Lindsey speaks)

I had this vision of how I wanted to end my career,

and I wanted to have the fairy-tale ending

to get the record for myself

and for my team and for my family.

And...

I'm just not gonna get there.

It's hard to let down the entire team.

(Hoedlmoser speaks)

Yeah, I mean...

Like, I kind of think that I should just fucking say,

fuck it, and just...

throw myself down the mountain in Are and...

see what happens and...

try to get a medal and try to go out on a high note.

The best I can do is

try to salvage some of the season.

I'll race in the World Championships

and that's probably...

all that I have left in me.

-(crying) -(man speaks indistinctly)

-I'm sorry. -Hoedlmoser: Don't be sorry. Come on.

And I know when I think about it... (sniffles)

I'm being really irrational and I've done a lot more

in my career than I ever thought I could,

and I should be jumping up and down that it's like...

it's amazing, but... (sighs)

(sighs)

I just really wanted to break that record, but...

(sniffles)

I can't.

-(Hoedlmoser speaks) -(Haemmerle speaks)

(Hoedlmoser)

(chuckling)

All right, well...

He's ready to leave. (laughing)

(Haemmerle speaks)

(laughter)

All right, well,

let's go get some medals and... party.

Yes! Medals!

-Oh my gosh. You guys... -Woo!

What do you think?

You don't wanna be on the road anymore?

No, she's done.

Whether my leg's working or not,

I'm just gonna ski the best I can at the World Championships

and know that it's my last race,

and I'll be happy no matter what happens.

I mean, I guess it's not the fairy-tale ending

that I had hoped, but,

honestly, who gets that anyways?

It's been an emotional two weeks

making the hardest decision of my life,

but I have accepted that I cannot continue ski racing.

I will compete at the World Championships

in downhill and super-G

next week in Are, Sweden,

and they will be the final races of my career.

I've always pushed the limits in ski racing,

and it's allowed me to have amazing success,

but also dramatic crashes.

My body is screaming at me to stop,

and it's time that I listen.

I always say never give up,

so to all the kids out there,

I need to tell you that I'm not giving up.

I'm just starting a new chapter.

Don't lose faith in your dreams,

and if you always give everything you have,

you'll be happy no matter what the outcome.

Love always, Lindsey.

(crowd cheering)

Narrator: So the World Championships

will offer a dramatic final bow

with the entire ski world watching.

-Announcer: Here we go! -Alan: All right, it's showtime!

Narrator: It'll all culminate with one last downhill,

but first, it's the super-G today.

Commentator 1: And now,

American Lindsey Vonn, the final super-G of her career,

a discipline where she's won

five season titles and a record

28 victories on the World Cup.

Commentator 2: Taking a little care on the line right there is Vonn.

Sometimes, you have to invest a little, as they say,

and then allow yourself to get onto the--

Commentator 1: And she goes down hard!

(crowd gasping)

Oh, and a hard fall right there.

That terrain awfully flat,

and Vonn's ski just hooked up,

and it took her right into the panel.

Commentator 2: Vonn goes over the front. At least the ski comes off.

That is what saves the joints,

and that's been the issue for Vonn, of course,

is the joints there, but just the impact.

You can see how that would, at the very least, take her breath away.

Many of us heard that her father,

who has been so much a part of the champion that she is,

getting hung up with weather, and he only arrived

about eight minutes

before the start of this race.

And he did get here in time, but in time to see that.

Commentator 1: Well, they had the sled brought over, but as you can see,

Vonn is standing on her own two feet here.

Commentator 2: You can only hope that this

is not how Lindsey Vonn

goes out of this storied career.

Commentator 1: Oh, she's not gonna take a sled down.

(applause)

Commentator 2: In the case of Lindsey Vonn,

you live by the sword, you die by the sword.

(cheering)

Lindsey: The crash definitely hurt. It knocked the wind out of me.

I hit my face with my arm and that gave me a black eye.

Um, yeah, I'm sore.

Everything kind of hurts and it's never fun to crash into the fence.

But I think my knees are okay.

They're all in one piece for the most part,

so that's positive, and now,

I'm just gonna try to feel better for the race on Sunday.

It's kind of fitting that I crashed in my last super-G.

I wish that it had been the opposite and I'd won, but, you know, that's my style.

My heart and soul is on the mountain

and that's not gonna change for my last race.

If anything, it makes me even more focused to try even harder.

(cameras clicking)

Newsman: What's it feel like preparing for the downhill,

knowing that you probably won't win?

Who said I won't win?

I didn't say that. I could still win.

Don't count me out. I got one more chance.

Maybe I'll pull off a miracle, maybe I won't,

but I'm gonna try my hardest.

I mean, just 'cause I get knocked down

doesn't mean I can't get back up,

so I still have one more chance.

Newsman: But is it really healthy for you skiing right now?

I think if you look back in my career, for this whole time,

it probably wasn't healthy for me to be skiing,

but, I mean, I love what I do.

I love downhill because I love pushing myself.

I love pushing the limits.

I just can't push the limits anymore,

but, like I said,

it doesn't mean that, uh,

it wasn't worth the risk.

I take that risk head-on.

♪ Don't you know ♪

♪ I'm no good for you ♪

♪ I've learned to lose you ♪

♪ Can't afford to... ♪

Alan: There's a certain tenacity that, uh,

someone in that position has, whether it's driving a race car,

or anything that involves danger in sport

to get up after taking a fall like that and then...

you're ready to go right back into it.

That's, uh... something you can't teach.

♪ But nothing ever ♪

♪ Stops you leaving ♪

Lindsey: I love you guys. Thank you for everything,

and let's have some fun on Sunday.

-All: Woo! -Cheers!

(chattering)

Lindsey: It's really important to me that my dad's here.

I mean, he's the one that helped me get to this point,

and I wouldn't be the same

-if he wasn't here. -Alan: This is, uh, this is...

Lindsey: My mom's not coming. Her health isn't great.

It's disappointing, but not everyone can stop

their world to come watch my ski race. (chuckles)

My sister Karin and my brother Reed came into town.

We're gonna have some nice family dinners,

and just really have fun.

She has had such a long run.

It'll be sad, but I think

it's a relief for her, too.

You know, in most of our jobs, we don't have to win everyday.

(indistinct chattering)

-(cheering) -Lindsey: Thank you for always supporting me,

and it's been a great career.

I'm very thankful for everything, and...

you guys are safe.

Ingemar will hold the record. (laughs)

It's over.

Announcer: No, it's not over.

This is the beginning! This is the beginning!

♪ Say I like it like that ♪

♪ Like it like that ♪

(laughter)

Hoedlmoser: On downhill day, it's not gonna be any pressure or whatever,

but you are the best and you gonna prove it

on your last race. I know it.

-Absolutely. -Winninger: Yeah!

-(cheering) -All: Cheers!

(glasses clinking)

Cheers, everyone.

Claire: She can do it, right, Erich?

(Erich speaking on phone)

(laughter)

♪ Quiet when I'm coming home ♪

♪ And I'm on my own ♪

♪ I could lie and say I like it like that ♪

♪ Like it like that ♪

-Garreffi: You're in charge. -Todd Jones: Everyone's ready.

-Lindsey: So, I'm sitting down? -Jill: Yep.

(Todd Jones speaking)

Jill Garreffi: All right, it's all you.

(woman speaks indistinctly)

-Okay, thanks. -(door shuts)

Um...

So, tomorrow is my final race

of my 18-year-long career.

(wind blowing)

It's hard to really...

describe the emotions that I've been feeling

the last few weeks since making the decision to retire.

You know, this season definitely hasn't been at all

what I had expected, um...

And I don't like to think about it because...

(sighs)

...it's really scary to think about...

not having something that I love so much, but...

I also want a future.

I want a future where I am...

I can ski with my kids, and...

I think the thought of not being able to do that

definitely outweighs the fact that

I wanted to reach that goal of 86 wins.

(cheering)

The hole that skiing will leave,

the adrenaline rush and the thrill of going fast,

I don't know how I'm gonna fill that, but...

I do know that it's... that it's over,

and it's time to move on.

But I do wanna say thank you

to everyone that supported me,

especially my family.

They sacrificed so much for me to be here.

All my coaches growing up.

Let's go. Let's do this.

Yep. What do you think, Heinz?

Just try it.

Winninger: All right, let's go for Linds.

Coach (over radio): You know what to do here, as expected.

Come on, let's charge it. tucking everything you can...

Lindsey: To my team...

Winninger: You can do this.

Top to bottom, it's all you, buddy. Come on.

-(cheering) -Announcer: Lindsey Vonn from the USA!

Lindsey: To all my fans, you guys have been so awesome.

Trust me when I say that your words have...

meant a lot to me and...

-(cheering) -lifted me up when I was down.

Coach: One minute.

Haemmerle: Come on, baby. Get this last one. Game on.

Winninger: Get after it, Linds.

I hope that I have inspired some of you

to pick yourselves back up,

to follow your dreams, to...

work hard, and never give up on yourself.

Winninger: Show them who you are, come on.

That's why we are here for. Game on.

Winninger: Come on, Linds. You gotta get fired up to go.

Haemmerle: Show them what's gonna happen, baby!

Thank you guys for everything. It's been an amazing ride.

(team shouting)

-(cheering) -Commentator 1: Lindsey Vonn, from the USA!

On her final race!

She is fighting with the pain,

but she wants this race,

and she is gonna lay it down now,

and put the pedal to the metal right now.

23/100s off the pace,

but she's going full throttle.

An incomparable 82 victories

in her World Cup career.

The young lady, she grew up

in St. Paul, Minnesota...

-Commentator 2: Oh! -(cheering)

Commentator 1: She is closing the gap on Viktoria Rebensburg.

Just 7/100s off the mark now.

She's picking up speed.

-(crowd cheering) -(commentator speaking indistinctly)

And now jumping into the lead, 23/100s!

Is this the second highest score-- There she goes!

(commentators shouting indistinctly)

(crowd cheering)

Yeah!

(laughing)

Commentator 1: Incredible! Incredible!

Fighting the pain,

but showing an undeterred spirit.

Lindsey, thank you for a remarkable career!

All of the ski community joins us in that.

Bravo!

(cheering continuing)

Crowd (chanting): Lindsey! Lindsey! Lindsey!

Lindsey: To be able to be come down in the lead and...

have the crowd cheering for me,

and I was able to spot my family.

It was a perfect moment.

-(Ingemar speaks indistinctly) -Lindsey: Thank you. (laughs)

It means so much to me that you're here.

I didn't think at that point that I was gonna get any sort of happy ending.

Commentator: Here she comes down to the finish line!

And she moves into the lead, at 1:01.74!

Lindsey: But getting third in my final race

was just as about as good as it gets.

I'm gonna put this next to the gold medals

because this, to me, was, uh... an incredible race.

I fought with my heart the whole way down.

I've accepted where I am in my life, and I'm happy,

and I'm excited for the future.

I've cried enough tears, and now, it's just time to enjoy it.

Reporter: Okay, congratulations, and thanks so much.

Thank you so much. Thank you, guys.

Winninger: Woo!

(cheering)

-Proud of you, buddy. -Thanks, buddy.

That's the end of a good story.

Hoedlmoser: Just so proud and emotional and, um...

The way she skied, I mean, was just...

-unbelievable. -Announcer: In third place,

-Lindsey Vonn! -(cheering)

-Alan: Good job, my dear. Proud of you. Really proud. -Lindsey: Thanks, Dad.

-Come here. I love you. -Alan: Love you, too.

It's not just the number of wins, I think.

It's the impact you have on the sport,

and I think she's had a good impact, a large impact.

Lindsey: Aw, thank you.

Thank you, guys.

-(speaking French) -(kisses)

Thank you, thank you.

Lindsey: Sometimes, I have a tendency to,

you know, harp on the things I didn't do,

rather than, you know, say, hey, you did a good job.

I don't usually like saying that to myself,

but I think, at this point, I have to.

Eighty-seven would've been great,

but 82's pretty damn nice, too.

All: Woo!

I think I'm most looking forward to spending time

with my family and my friends.

I'm looking forward to doing all those things

that I haven't gotten to do in the past.

-Oh! -(cheering)

Thanks, everyone, for being here.

All: Cheers!

Alan: You can't predict

how far somebody's gonna go.

You know, maybe the top 10 in the world.

Maybe the top five in the world, but...

when she was eight years old,

one of the assignments in school was to write an essay

about what you're gonna do with your life, and hers was,

"I'm gonna be the greatest skier of all time."

That was her goal.

(chattering)

Lund: Hi, Lindsey! Wave at your daddy!

Say hi, Dad and Mom!

Hi, Dad and Mom!

Lund: Here's Grandpa.

Okay, Lindsey, we're all set to go bombing.

Lund: Right in front of his favorite run,

-Heavenly Daze. -Heavenly Daze.

-Woo! -Grandpa: Lindsey, she doesn't stop racing.

(laughing)

Go on, Lindsey!

-Lindsey: I win! -Grandpa: You won!

-Alan: Say hi. -Hello.

Man: I think she's good, boy. She's only 10 years old.

What the hell is 10 more years then?

Hi, I'm Dylan.

-Hi, I'm Karin. -Hi, I'm Laura.

Hi, I'm Reed, and we're...

All: The Extreme, Extreme Team!

-Lindsey: Oh. That was good. -That was pretty fun.

-That was pretty weak, huh? -Dylan: Yeah, we should go off one of those jumps.

Lindsey: That was sweet.

(gasps) Oh my God, Dylan!

(laughs)

Lindsey: This is the Dream Team

Extreme home video,

saying bye.

-Bye! -Dylan: See you!

Hope you had fun with the video!

Narrator: This has been a presentation of HBO Sports.