“I’d love to stop seeing all my friends end up in the hospital like me”- Lindsey Vonn’s concern on injuries in 2023-2024 Alpine World Cup circuit

Skiing legend Lindsey Vonn recently expressed her concern over the injuries skiers suffered in the 2023 - 2024 Alpine World Circuit. The 82-time World Cup winner feels it is the changes in the skis that are resulting in injuring skiers.

Alpine race coach Holly Reed brought the internet’s attention to the skiing injuries faced by competitive skiers this year. She jotted down a list of skiers who went “out for the season” or were in the process of returning.

The list included popular athletes like Mikaela Shiffrin, Petra Vlhova, Bella Wright, Michelle Gisin, Aleksander Kilde, Alex Pinturault, Marco Schwarz, Joana Haehlen, and Sofia Goggia. Surprisingly, seven out of these ten skiers are out for the season due to brutal ski injuries.

Lindsey Vonn shared Reed’s X (formerly known as Twitter) post and expressed her thoughts about these injuries. The 39-year-old wrote:

“Unfortunately, this is ski racing. They have changed the skis to make athletes slower but it didn’t work. It only cost the ski companies millions and almost ruined the industry. Skiers will always find a way to go fast and inevitably there will also always be injuries. It just happens that this year it’s all the top stars.”

She continued:

"Would love to hear ideas on what could make skiing safer... I’d love to stop seeing all my friends end up in the hospital like me!"

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Lindsey Vonn on whether she would have achieved more if given more recovery time

Lindsey Vonn at FIS World Ski Championships - Women's Downhill

Lindsey Vonn is undoubtedly one of the most celebrated Olympic skiers in the world. However, besides winning a series of titles throughout her career, she faced several injuries. From fractured ankles to broken arm bones to torn knee ligaments, all sorts of injuries interrupted the skier’s shining career.

In fact, injuries were the main reason behind her retirement from the sport in 2019. Vonn underwent a series of surgeries in 2023, including a knee replacement surgery.

However, Lindsey Vonn believes that if she was given more recovery time, she could have won a lot more in her career. The retired skier answered one of her fans on X (formerly known as Twitter) and wrote:

"Of course. if I had more time to recover I might have been able to do more but I still won a lot of races being injured."

She added:

"I have no regrets. I always skied with my heart and I never wanted to miss a single race."