BAD KLEINKIRCHHEIM, Austria — Luggage lost during travel, weakened by a cold, and competing on a course that has never really suited her.
The signs for Lindsey Vonn’s next attempt to match the all-time record of 62 women’s World Cup wins at this weekend’s races in Austria have not been overly promising.
The American missed her first chance to reach Annemarie Moser-Proell’s mark when she crashed in a super-G last month in Val d’Isere, France. A downhill Saturday and a super-G on Sunday will offer two more opportunities, but Vonn’s main priorities are elsewhere.
“At the moment I have to be healthy again and hopefully I am 100 percent at the race, that’s my goal,” Vonn said Thursday. “The record will hopefully come when I am skiing well but not before.”
After the race in France, Vonn skipped the technical events in Kuehtai, Austria, and Zagreb, Croatia, and went back to the United States, where the U.S. speed team trained in Beaver Creek, just down the road from her home in Vail, ahead of next month’s world championships.
Most of her teammates got ill, and ultimately Vonn did too.
“I was the last one,” she said. “I have a sore throat, and I can’t hear my ears.”
Vonn was far from her best at Thursday’s first downhill training. Hours before the start, she tweeted, “still sick and feel like a walking zombie but at least I’m skiing.”
Coaching change for Shiffrin
PARK CITY, Utah — The U.S. Ski Team reassigned women’s technical coach Roland Pfeifer, who’s been working with Olympic slalom champion Mikaela Shiffrin of Eagle- Vail.
The squad said alpine director Patrick Riml will take over on an interim basis to supervise the slalom/giant-slalom racers.
Riml said in a statement the team felt “a change was important to create the best team dynamics and stability, providing focus for Mikaela Shiffrin and our other U.S. athletes.”
