Vonn “proud to race with anyone” in team combined

WINTER OLYMPICS

United States’ Lindsey Vonn, right, talks to teammates Lauren Macuga, center, and Jacqueline Wiles at the Alpine Ski World Championships in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austria, on Tuesday. GIOVANNI AULETTA — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

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By Andrew Dampf

The Associated Press

SAALBACH-HINTERGLEMM, Austria >> It’s not just downhill and super-G that Lindsey Vonn wants to compete in at the age of 41 at next year’s Milan-Cortina Olympics.

After experiencing the new team combined at the world championships, Vonn also hopes to qualify for that event when it makes its Olympic debut in 2026 — even after her campaign to pair with Mikaela Shiffrin this week didn’t pan out.

“It’s fun to be a part of a team,” Vonn said. “I’ve never had that experience in a world championships or Olympics before. I’ve always loved the combined as an individual (event). They don’t have that anymore. So this is my next best option. I get along great with every single member of my team and I would be proud to race with anyone.”

But at the worlds, Vonn was very public about her desire to race with Shiffrin, who ended up winning gold with Breezy Johnson. Vonn and AJ Hurt placed 16th on Tuesday.

The new event entails one racer competing in a downhill run and another in a slalom run, with their times added together to determine the final results.

Shiffrin and Vonn are the winningest female racers in World Cup history with 99 victories for Shiffrin and 82 for Vonn.

Vonn is the all-time leader in World Cup downhill victories with 43 and Shiffrin holds the mark in slalom with 62 — both records among men and women.

“Would it have been a really cool thing to have 181 wins in one team? I think it would have been,” Vonn said.

“But if you’re looking at what’s best for the team, it’s not me right now. That doesn’t mean that next year things might change.”

Vonn struggled in her downhill run of the combined, finishing 21st and a distant 2.51 seconds behind the leader, American teammate Lauren Macuga. Johnson was fourth, setting up her gold medal with Shiffrin.

That performance by Vonn followed a hooked gate that took her out of the super-G and a 15th-place finish in the downhill.

“Technically, I’m skiing better than I was before, but from the gliding (standpoint) I am not fast,” Vonn said. “So that’s something that I’ve never had a problem with. And I just need to figure it out.”

Having recently returned to ski racing with a new titanium knee after nearly six years of retirement, Vonn is playing catch up with her new equipment.

Vonn’s longtime ski technician, Heinz Haemmerle, retired, so equipment supplier Head assigned her Chris Krause, who formerly worked for Didier Cuche and Bode Miller.

But then Krause got sick, so she was assigned yet another technician, Rene Meusburger.