Miracle now needed to win gold, says Vonn

[February 07, 2015]  By Steve Keating
 
 BEAVER CREEK, Colorado (Reuters) - Denied gold medals in her best events, American ski queen Lindsey Vonn admitted on Friday that it will take a miracle for her to leave the alpine ski world championships with a title.

With the most successful women's skier of all-time with a record 64 World Cup wins competing on home snow, these were supposed to be the Lindsey Vonn world championships.

But so far the two-week competition has produced only disappointment for the 30-year-old racer and her fans with Vonn finishing out of the medals in her best event, the downhill on Friday, after settling for a bronze in the Super-G.

Vonn will still have two chances to get to the top of the podium in Monday's super combined and Thursday's giant slalom but she considers both a long shot.

"I really wish I could done better," said Vonn following a fifth place in the downhill won by Slovenia's Tina Maze. "But I still have two more chances in the super combined and GS (giant slalom) and although my chances of doing something there are slim, I will definitely be giving a 110 percent and make a miracle happen.

"I'm definitely disappointed, I've been skiing really well in downhill this whole season. I can make excuses all day, I just didn't ski my best and just look forward now to the super combined and the GS."

Vonn's only two world titles came six years ago at the 2009 championships in Val d'Isere when she swept both the downhill and Super-G crowns.

Through her brilliant career she has collected eight world championship and Olympic medals, all coming in the downhill and Super-G.

Of her record 64 World Cup wins only three have come in the giant slalom and five in the combined.

"It wasn't for a lack of effort, I tried as hard as I could," said Vonn. "I was focused, I was motivated, I was determined.

"I really wanted to do something special and normally when I get that fired up it means good things but today just didn't quite do it."

With the championships approaching the midway point, time is running out for the U.S. ski team to find their groove.

With a stellar lineup of Olympic and world champions and World Cup winners, including Ted Ligety, Bode Miller, Mikaela Shiffrin, Julia Mancuso, the American haul so far has been limited to Vonn's bronze.

(Editing by Gene Cherry)

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