Lindsey Vonn to retire after World Championships this month

Lindsey Vonn has finally had to admit defeat.

The American ski star has made the decision she was dreading, and will retire after the World Championships in Are, Sweden later this month.

The 34-year-old has enjoyed a glittering career and compiled a remarkable 82 World Cup victories to sit second on the all-time list behind Sweden’s Ingemar Stenmark.

She has bounced back from serious injury multiple times, but the knee problem that has plagued her in recent years has forced her to bring forward her planned retirement at the end of the season.

“The past two weeks have been some of the most emotionally challenging days of my life,” Vonn wrote on Facebook.

“I am struggling with the reality of what my body is telling me versus what my mind and heart believe I’m capable of. The unfortunate reality is my mind and body are not on the same page. After many sleepless nights, I have finally accepted that I cannot continue ski racing.”

She added: “My body is broken beyond repair and it isn’t letting me have the final season I dreamed of. My body is screaming at me to STOP and it’s time for me to listen.”

READ: ‘I just can’t physically do it anymore’ – Vonn

The world's greatest female ski racer Lindsey Vonn has officially retired from the sport after her final race at the World Championships in Are. Here's a look back at her glittering career.

She made her Olympic debut at Salt Lake City 2002 as a 17-year-old, finishing 32nd in slalom and sixth in the combined slalom/downhill event.

Lindsey Kildow -- as she was then before marrying fellow skier Thomas Vonn -- won her first World Cup race with victory in the downhill at Lake Louise, Canada, in 2004.

In 2005, Vonn signed with Red Bull and began working with a completely new coaching team. She seemed set for the start of something special.

Any momentum from the new deal was slowed during the 2006 Olympics in Italy, though. A fall in practice resulted in a short stay in hospital. She recovered in time to compete but could only manage seventh in the Super G and eighth in the downhill events.

However, Vonn quickly bounced back and won the first of three straight World Cup titles in 2008 at the age of 23.

Golden girl Vonn achieved her Olympic dreams in 2010. She won the Olympic downhill gold at Whistler and added bronze in the super-G.

Vonn added a fourth World Cup title in 2012, but is still behind Annemarie Moser-Proell's record of six overall crystal globes.

Vonn's public profile went galactic when she dated star golfer Tiger Woods for two years between 2013 and 2015.

In 2013, Vonn suffered an horrific crash at the World Championships in Austria. She underwent reconstructive knee surgery and began a long road to recovery. She attempted to return a year later, only to pull out of the 2014 Olympics after aggravating the injury again.

Injuries continued to hamper Vonn. She fractured her left knee in February 2016 in a crash during a World Cup super-G race in Soldeu, Andorra, but raced the combined event the next day before calling an end to her season.

Vonn worked hard to get back in time to challenge for gold medals at the 2018 Winter Olympics. The American left PyeongChang with a bronze medal in the downhill but insisted she was proud to have made it through her injuries.

Vonn announced the current ski World Cup season would be her last. She is already the most successful woman in World Cup history with 82 victories and was chasing down Ingemar Stenmark's overall World Cup record of 86 victories in her sights.

However, a knee injury from a training crash in November meant she couldn't start her season until January. On her debut in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, she was still struggling with knee pain.

After much soul-searching Vonn announced that she will retire from skiing after competing in the World Championships in Are, Sweden in February 2019. "My body is screaming at me to STOP and it's time for me to listen," she said.

In her opening race at the World Championships, Vonn suffered a heavy crash and careered into safety netting. She was eventually able to ski to the bottom and said she would still compete in the downhill to bring the curtain down on her glittering career.

Despite her damaged knees, Vonn was able to retire on a positive note. She battled back to win bronze in the downhill -- becoming the oldest woman to secure a medal at a world championships and the first female racer to medal at six world championships.

The American retired four wins short of equaling Stenmark's record of 86 World Cup wins and the Swedish great (left) was in Are to watch Vonn's final race. "I basically begged him to come here," Vonn said.

Lindsey Vonn: Greatest female skier retires

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‘Always pushed the limits’

Vonn, the 2010 Olympic downhill champion and two-time bronze medalist, will compete in the super-G on February 5 and downhill on February 10 in Sweden before exiting the sport she has graced at the top level since her debut as a 17-year-old in 2002.

Since then she has become one of the most decorated skiers of all time, winning 20 season titles in various disciplines including four World Cup overall crowns.

She was a double world champion in downhill and super-G in 2009, and though knee injury deprived her of the chance to defend her Olympic downhill title in Sochi in 2014, she bounced back to clinch downhill bronze in her final Olympics in Pyeongchang last year.

READ: How Special Forces training is speeding up US downhillers

The speed specialist announced last autumn this was to be her final season, but a knee injury in a pre-season training crash at Copper Mountain, Co. forced her to miss her beloved Lake Louise event at the end of November and she announced she would return to the Canadian venue for one final appearance at the end of the year.

However, she experienced knee pain when she made a belated season debut at Cortina d’Ampezzo in Italy in January, and admitted then she might have to bring her retirement plans forward.

“Over the past few years I have had more injuries and surgeries than I care to admit,” she added on Facebook.

“I have always pushed the limits of ski racing and it has allowed me to have amazing success but also dramatic crashes. I have never wanted the storyline of my career to be about injuries and because of that I decided not to tell anyone that I underwent surgery this past spring.

“A large portion of cartilage that had delaminated from my bone was removed. My crash in Lake Louise last year was much more painful than I let on, but I continued to race because I wanted to win a medal in the Olympics for my late grandfather. Again, I rehabbed my way back this summer and I felt better than I had in a long time.”

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Updated 12:39 PM EST, Fri February 1, 2019

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Lindsey Vonn's furry friends

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Vonn revealed that she tore ligaments in her left knee and sustained three fractures in the training crash at Copper Mountain.

“Despite extensive therapy, training and a knee brace, I am not able make the turns necessary to compete the way I know I can,” she wrote.

In an exclusive interview with CNN ahead of the race in Cortina, Vonn admitted she was worried about the onset of arthritis and being able to ski with her future children one day.

But she said what rankles is falling short of Stenmark’s record.

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“Honestly, retiring isn’t what upsets me,” she added. “Retiring without reaching my goal is what will stay with me forever. However, I can look back at 82 World Cup wins, 20 World Cup titles, 3 Olympic medals, 7 World Championship medals and say that I have accomplished something that no other woman in HISTORY has ever done, and that is something that I will be proud of FOREVER!

“So please let my story be of comebacks, victories and even injuries, but do not tell my story as one of failures or unreached goals.”