When Lindsey Vonn races at her favorite World Cup venue for the last time next fall, she will take runs down Lake Lindsey Way.
The Lake Louise Ski Resort in Alberta announced Saturday the renaming of its downhill run after the most successful female Alpiner. Nowhere has Vonn tasted more victory than Lake Louise, with 18 of her 82 World Cup wins in 44 career starts. So much success that, years ago, it was dubbed Lake Lindsey.
Vonn would have tried to add to her total this past weekend -- and inch closer to Ingemar Stenmark‘s record 86 wins -- but she’s likely out of competition until January after injuring her knee in a Nov. 19 training crash.
So she video conferenced into Saturday night’s ceremony.
“I’m so honored, and I’ve had so many great memories in Lake Louise,” said Vonn, who is delaying her retirement from March until next season to race Lake Louise one more time. “I can’t wait to come back and ski on my run.”
Louise Locke, part of the family in charge of the Lake Louise Ski Club, said Vonn earned the honor “for being such a wonderful ambassador for the sport of ski racing and for skiing in general, and especially for Lake Louise.”
“But even more than that, we want to thank you for being the person you are,” she said. “You always have all the time in the world for your fans, and especially for the kids. And that’s what we love about you the very most, so we want to do something a little bit special.”
Few Alpine skiers get World Cup-level runs named after them, NBC Sports’ Steve Porino said, noting one other instance, the Oreiller Killy track in Val d’Isere, France, honoring a pair of French Olympic champions.
It’s unknown when Vonn will make her season debut. She said in a video published Friday that she would probably be able to race in a few weeks. In Saturday’s video conference, Vonn said she hoped to race the Oreiller Killy venue in Val d’Isere the weekend of Dec. 15-16, pending a doctor visit Monday to determine if she’s cleared to ski.
But early Monday, French media reported those races were canceled due to weather. The International Ski Federation has not announced whether speed races will be held at another venue that weekend.
If Vonn does not race then, she would likely be out until at least the next scheduled speed races Jan. 12-13.
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