Lindsey Vonn in spotlight as showdown with Mikaela Shiffrin delayed
Lindsey Vonn
And  Shiffrin  might one day pass them both.
A month shy of her 23rd birthday   Shiffrin  already has 41 World Cup wins. But most of those have been in the tech events  meaning she and Vonn rarely crossed paths on the World Cup circuit. That changed this season  as  Shiffrin  began adding speed events to her schedule.
With  Shiffrin  hoping to do all five events in Pyeongchang  the idea of seeing  her  and Vonn  33  go head-to-head with Olympic gold on the line was one of the most tantalizing storylines of the Games. But the fireworks keep fizzling.
First was Saturday’s Super-G  which  Shiffrin  dropped after racing the giant slalom and slalom the two previous days. (And taking gold in the GS  for those keeping track.) Now it’s the downhill  which  Shiffrin  is skipping to focus on the Alpine combined that was moved from Friday to Thursday.
Then again  it feels right that  Vonn  gets the spotlight to  herself  in the race that's defined  her .
For all that  she ’s achieved  Vonn's luck at the Olympics has been stunningly bad.  She  was eighth in the downhill in Turin  two days after  she  had to be airlifted to a hospital following a scary crash in training.  She  missed Sochi after reinjuring  her  knee about six weeks before the Games.
Even in Vancouver  where  she  won gold in the downhill and bronze in the Super-G   she  was skiing with a badly bruised shin.
With one last chance to have the Olympics  she  wants   Vonn  has poured every bit of  herself  into these Games. The death of  her  beloved grandfather  Don Kildow  on Nov. 1 only hardened  her  resolve.
“This time I have a more important mission; win for my late Grandpa  ” Vonn  said in an Instagram post the night before the Super-G. “He will be watching from the best seat in the house  hopefully looking out for me and guiding me down the mountain.”
 Vonn  didn’t win the Super-G  tying for sixth after making a mistake in the last turn. But  she  was upbeat afterward  knowing  her  best race was still in front of  her .
“In general  this season  I feel like I’ve been much better in downhill than Super-G ”  Vonn  said Saturday. “And this hill  it suits me really well for downhill."
 She ’s backed that up so far.  She  had the fastest time in Sunday’s training run. Despite backing off a bit Monday   she  still finished third  .35 seconds behind Austria’s Stephanie Venier.
“I’m not looking to do anything special here in the training runs ”  Vonn  said Monday. “I just want to get a feeling for the line. I’m trying some different skis every day to seeing what’s running. But  in general  I’m really happy.”
It is only a matter of days before  Vonn ’s Olympic career is over  and  she  can see the finish line ahead. But as  she ’s done for the better part of two decades now   she  will not let up until  she ’s crossed it  pushing hard until the very end.
“You can’t get too sentimental right now because I still have to race  I still have to be focused ”  she  said. “Afterwards I’ll do some reflecting.”
And savor that one last race that belonged all to  her .
And  Shiffrin  might one day pass them both.
A month shy of her 23rd birthday   Shiffrin  already has 41 World Cup wins. But most of those have been in the tech events  meaning she and [TGT] rarely crossed paths on the World Cup circuit. That changed this season  as  Shiffrin  began adding speed events to her schedule.
With  Shiffrin  hoping to do all five events in Pyeongchang  the idea of seeing  her  and [TGT]  33  go head-to-head with Olympic gold on the line was one of the most tantalizing storylines of the Games. But the fireworks keep fizzling.
First was Saturday’s Super-G  which  Shiffrin  dropped after racing the giant slalom and slalom the two previous days. (And taking gold in the GS  for those keeping track.) Now it’s the downhill  which  Shiffrin  is skipping to focus on the Alpine combined that was moved from Friday to Thursday.
Then again  it feels right that  Vonn  gets the spotlight to  herself  in the race that's defined  her .
For all that  she ’s achieved  [TGT]'s luck at the Olympics has been stunningly bad.  [TGT]  was eighth in the downhill in Turin  two days after  [TGT]  had to be airlifted to a hospital following a scary crash in training.  [TGT]  missed Sochi after reinjuring  [TGT]  knee about six weeks before the Games.
Even in Vancouver  where  [TGT]  won gold in the downhill and bronze in the Super-G   [TGT]  was skiing with a badly bruised shin.
With one last chance to have the Olympics  she  wants   Vonn  has poured every bit of  herself  into these Games. The death of  her  beloved grandfather  Don Kildow  on Nov. 1 only hardened  her  resolve.
“This time I have a more important mission; win for my late Grandpa  ” Vonn  said in an Instagram post the night before the Super-G. “He will be watching from the best seat in the house  hopefully looking out for me and guiding me down the mountain.”
 Vonn  didn’t win the Super-G  tying for sixth after making a mistake in the last turn. But  she  was upbeat afterward  knowing  her  best race was still in front of  her .
“In general  this season  I feel like I’ve been much better in downhill than Super-G ”  Vonn  said Saturday. “And this hill  it suits me really well for downhill."
 She ’s backed that up so far.  She  had the fastest time in Sunday’s training run. Despite backing off a bit Monday   she  still finished third  .35 seconds behind Austria’s Stephanie Venier.
“I’m not looking to do anything special here in the training runs ”  Vonn  said Monday. “I just want to get a feeling for the line. I’m trying some different skis every day to seeing what’s running. But  in general  I’m really happy.”
It is only a matter of days before  Vonn ’s Olympic career is over  and  she  can see the finish line ahead. But as  she ’s done for the better part of two decades now   she  will not let up until  she ’s crossed it  pushing hard until the very end.
“You can’t get too sentimental right now because I still have to race  I still have to be focused ”  she  said. “Afterwards I’ll do some reflecting.”
And savor that one last race that belonged all to  her .