Vonn Best Ever Skier, Says Miller
LONDON (Reuters) - Lindsey Vonn will end her career as the greatest Alpine ski racer of all time but might one day be usurped by fellow American Mikaela Shiffrin, according to Bode Miller.
Vonn is considering ending her career before next month's world championships in Are, Sweden with a succession of knee injuries having taken a toll on the 34-year-old.
But even if the former Olympic downhill champion falls just short of Swedish slalom specialist Ingemar Stenmark's long-standing record of 86 World Cup wins, former team mate Miller says she should be regarded as the best ever.
Vonn has 82 World Cup victories to her name.
"In my opinion she is at the very top. You can make a lot of different cases for a lot of different athletes and her case is strong," four-time world champion Miller, who will be analyzing the Are championships for broadcaster Eurosport, said.
"She has a lot of check marks that put her at the very, very top. Stenmark lived in a different era, it wasn't the modern era and he never had to deal with the things Lindsey had to deal with throughout her career.
"Even just the number of races he had in a season was different to Lindsey, so in my opinion she is at the top."
Stenmark's victories all came in slalom and giant slalom whereas Vonn, while a speed specialist, is one of six women to have won World Cup races in all five disciplines.
Shiffrin is predicted to be face of the world championships after a season of domination in the World Cup.
Last weekend she won the Cortina super-G shortly after Vonn failed to finish the race.
Still only 23, Shiffrin already has 54 World Cup wins, tying her in sixth place on the all-time list with Austrian great Hermann Maier. She has 11 wins this season alone.
****************FILE PHOTO: Lindsey Vonn of the U.S. competes in Pyeongchang Winter Olympics Pyeongchang, South Korea - February 22, 2018.
Vonn is considering ending her career before next month's world championships in Are, Sweden with a succession of knee injuries having taken a toll on the 34-year-old.
But even if the former Olympic downhill champion falls just short of Swedish slalom specialist Ingemar Stenmark's long-standing record of 86 World Cup wins, former team mate Miller says she should be regarded as the best ever.
Vonn has 82 World Cup victories to her name.
"In my opinion she is at the very top. You can make a lot of different cases for a lot of different athletes and her case is strong," four-time world champion Miller, who will be analyzing the Are championships for broadcaster Eurosport, said.
"She has a lot of check marks that put her at the very, very top. Stenmark lived in a different era, it wasn't the modern era and he never had to deal with the things Lindsey had to deal with throughout her career.
"Even just the number of races he had in a season was different to Lindsey, so in my opinion she is at the top."
Stenmark's victories all came in slalom and giant slalom whereas Vonn, while a speed specialist, is one of six women to have won World Cup races in all five disciplines.
Shiffrin is predicted to be face of the world championships after a season of domination in the World Cup.
Last weekend she won the Cortina super-G shortly after Vonn failed to finish the race.
Still only 23, Shiffrin already has 54 World Cup wins, tying her in sixth place on the all-time list with Austrian great Hermann Maier. She has 11 wins this season alone.
****************FILE PHOTO: Lindsey Vonn of the U.S. competes in Pyeongchang Winter Olympics Pyeongchang, South Korea - February 22, 2018.