Skier Lindsey Vonn just reversed her retirement plans

Lindsey Vonn is defrosting her very big aspirations one last time.

The Olympian and World Cup champion had previously announced this ski season would be her last. But after suffering a ligament sprain while training last week, Vonn revealed in a Friday video she'd come back for at least one last race next year.

Vonn has been racing with the U.S. Ski Team for more than a decade, securing an Olympic gold and 82 World Cup wins along the way. That total made her the winningest female ski racer of all time. But Vonn said she wanted to beat Ingemar Stenmark's 86-win record to remove "female" from that distinction, and considered continuing her career until she did. Still, when repeated knee injuries started to take a toll on her performance, Vonn announced in October she'd cap her career at the end of the 2018-19 season.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Ironically, Vonn's most recent injury changed her mind again. A ligament sprain would keep her from finishing the 2018-19 season and racing at her "favorite spot on the tour:" Alberta, Canada's Lake Louise, she said in her Friday video. But the whole point of having "one last season" is to make "final memories," Vonn said, so she'd "have to come back next year and just race Lake Louise." Breaking Stenmark's record is no longer Vonn's top priority, but she said she still wants to "push out of the starting gate ... even if I'm not there to win."

Hear more about why Vonn isn't calling it quits yet in the video below. Kathryn Krawczyk

YouTube

Watch On