Lindsey Vonn finished with a fitting flourish, the perfect way to cap a nearly perfect season, one chock full of victories, medals, trophies -- and injuries.
Now the American is looking forward to some well-earned time away from the slopes.
A day after bruising her right knee in a crash, and skiing with her broken right pinkie protected by a green molded cast, Vonn clinched her third consecutive World Cup overall title Friday with a win in a super-G at Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. It was her 33rd career race victory, a U.S. record.
"My body is completely -- pretty much completely -- broken," she said.
Vonn described the pep talk she gave herself Friday this way: "I said, 'OK, you've done this before. You've dealt with this pain. Just go out there and do your best.' It was, for me, the best way to end such an amazing season."
Amazing, indeed.
The list of accomplishments goes on and on:
- Eleven World Cup race victories in 2009-10, breaking her own American record of nine, set last season;
- Her downhill, super-G and super-combined championships make Vonn the first American to win three World Cup discipline titles in a single season;
- Bode Miller held the U.S. mark of 32 career World Cup wins until Vonn tied it in Crans-Montana, Switzerland, last weekend, then surpassed it Friday, and she is still only 25 years old;
- Vonn is only the fifth woman in World Cup history with three overall titles in a row, and the first to do it since Petra Kronberger of Austria in 1990-92.
Oh, and let's not forget the downhill gold medal and super-G bronze Vonn won at the Vancouver Games in February, despite a badly bruised right shin she feared might keep her out of the Olympics altogether.
"I'm happy to be done with the year and finally get a chance to heal my body," Vonn said, "because I'm definitely hurting after this long season."
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