Vonn plans to return next season for races at Lake Louise

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Vonn plans to return next season for races at Lake Louise

2018-12-01 02:04 Last Updated At：02:10

Lindsey Vonn can't bring herself to say goodbye to ski racing without one final run at her favorite course.

So she intends to extend her farewell tour into next season.

The all-time winningest women's World Cup racer announced on her new YouTube channel Friday that she plans to come back for one more series of speed races at Lake Louise, Alberta, next season.

Her firm retirement plans changed when she hyperextended and sprained a ligament in her knee during a training crash on Nov. 19. She posted video of the crash in which she fell on a turn, did the splits and went into the protective fence. She also suffered a bone bruise.

That wipeout forced her skip the speed events this weekend in Lake Louise, which she's dominated so often that her fans playfully call it "Lake Lindsey." Vonn has 18 career World Cup wins at the venue.

"The whole point of having one last season is to have one last season — to race in every single race one last time, to make those final memories," Vonn said in her video. "Because I'm injured now, I can't have that, and I feel like I would regret it for the rest of my life if I didn't take that one last chance to push out of the starting gate in Lake Louise."

Vonn hasn't announced a timetable for her return to the circuit this season. She expressed her frustration in sitting out two downhill races and a super-G race at Lake Louise.

"To miss my favorite stop on the tour is devastating to put it lightly," Vonn said. "I know I'm going to be back shortly, probably be able to race in a few weeks. The fact I'm missing Lake Louise is a huge blow for me.

"The whole point really is to enjoy every stop on the tour, really make some great final memories, take a lot of pictures, enjoy the time with my teammates, just really soak it all in. To miss my favorite stop on the tour, I don't even know really how to handle it."

The 34-year-old Vonn has 82 World Cup victories, leaving her five away from breaking the record held by Ingemar Stenmark of Sweden.

"Hopefully, I break the record this season and can have fun," said Vonn, who earned a gold medal in the downhill and a bronze in the super-G at the 2010 Vancouver Games, along with a downhill bronze at the Pyeongchang Olympics last February. "I don't want the record to determine the level of success I've had in my career.

"I want to push out of the starting gate (at Lake Louise), even if I'm not there to win. Lake Louise is just really special to me. It's not about the record. It's not about, 'Oh, well you said you retired.' I really don't care what people think. I really don't. I want to do it for myself."

Over her career, Vonn's had a long list of ailments : ACL reconstructions, fractures near her left knee joint, bruised shin, broken ankle, broken arm, sliced right thumb and countless concussions. She missed the 2014 Sochi Games due to her right knee.

Her latest crash happened at the U.S. ski team's speed center in Copper Mountain, Colorado. She was cruising down the course — snow flying everywhere — when she slid out.

"I don't have a lot of fight left in me. I've had a lot of surgeries. I've had a lot of injuries, a lot of setbacks," Vonn said. "But I'm also not a quitter.

"For me, this last season is just to enjoy it, to have fun. I've got a lot of pictures I need to take. ... I'm going to be super sentimental. I'm probably going to cry a lot. But it's going to be fun."

Rolland Courbis, a passionate figure in French soccer, dies at 72

PARIS (AP) — Former Marseille coach Rolland Courbis, a charismatic figure of French soccer who later became a prominent pundit, has died, his employer said on Monday. He was 72.

RMC radio did not disclose the cause of the death in a statement released in agreement with Courbis' family.

Born in Marseille, Courbis came through the club's academy. A rugged defender, he was part of the team that won the French league and cup double in 1972 and returned to the club in the late 1990s as coach.

As a player, he also won two French league titles and a French Cup with Monaco.

“A Marseillais at heart, he embodied popular, dynamic football. His unmistakable accent carried his frank, direct, often passionate and always sincere words,” Marseille said in a tribute.

Courbis enjoyed a much-traveled coaching career, with spells in France and abroad, notably at Bordeaux, Lens, Montpellier and the USM Alger.

Among the many defining moments of his career was a stunning comeback he oversaw when coaching Marseille. His team found itself 4-0 down at home to Montpellier in 1998 but fought back to seal a remarkable 5-4 victory.

Courbis, who had a taste for casino gambling and lived with an Italian countess for a while, led a tumultuous life. He was seriously wounded in 1996 when gunmen fatally shot the president of a French soccer team outside a stadium following a game. Courbis, who was also involved in several legal cases and sentenced to prison, was hit by a bullet during the attack.

France coach Didier Deschamps said that with his passing, French soccer lost “a fine connoisseur of football and its inner workings, but also of the game itself.”

“He was a true passionate figure,” Deschamps added. “And in recent years, he chose to pass on that passion behind a microphone, with a turn of phrase all his own.”

Since 2005, he had become a consultant on RMC, where he commented on football news.

“His passion came through in his trademark Marseille accent and in a very direct rapport with listeners,” RMC said. “A freedom of tone that kept the language of the supporters, while sharing their questions and emotions. He was particularly successful in remaining approachable and warm, while still being demanding on substance.”

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer