Lindsey Vonn & Aksel Lund Svindal Take Their Final Bows

Both Aksel Lund Svindal and Lindsey Vonn had announced that their respective downhill races at the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships in Åre (SWE) would be the final of their careers.  In both cases, the story lines had a fairy talk finish with the two Alpine Skiing legends ending their careers with medal winning runs.

Svindal took the silver medal in the men’s downhill, only +0.02 behind his teammate Kjetil Jansrud, while Vonn walked away from the championships with the downhill bronze. At 34 years of age, Vonn became the oldest woman to win a World Championships medal with her performance and the only woman to collect a medal at six World Championships.

16 years at the highest level, in which Svindal collected 11 globes (including two Overalls), 36 victories and 80 podiums on the World Cup, as well as 4 Olympic medals (including two gold) and not less than nine World Championship medals (including five gold), mark the highlights of the Norwegian’s career.

In her storied career, American Vonn fought her way up to the top and dominated alpine skiing for years. She has no less than four Overall globes (2008, 2009, 2010 and 2012) and 16 discipline Crystal globes (8x DH, 5x SG, 3x AC) under her belt, as well as three Olympic medals (including one win in Vancouver 2010 DH) and seven World Championship medals (including two wins in Val d’Isère 2009 DH & SG).  The most impressive number on her resume is the 82 World Cup wins that she has claimed over her 395 starts to-date, a number that places her second best of all time, just behind Sweden’s Ingemar Stenmark (86).

Both Vonn and Svindal But Svindal are not only living legends of Alpine Skiing but will be missed as genuine persons and a great athletes. FIS would like to wish all these outstanding athletes all the best for their future plans and thank them for the great moments and emotions throughout the years.