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Tricia

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LV's instagram confirmed the knee injury. She says minor, no surgery and will race again this season. This seems a bad blow to her shot at 86 wins.
 

Rudi Riet

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So her retirement will be postponed by half a year.... OK.
 

Muleski

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Yep. About four years ago, a friend of mine, who has been very involved with her career told me that in his opinion, LV would chase down the Stenmark record, and beat it, even if she had to get out of a wheelchair to ski.

So when she had this most recent injury, and will possibly miss all of November and December, and THREE race starts at Lake Louise, which she has just owned {and which is a very gentle hill, relatively speaking}, the consensus among those I know {who I think now} is that things just got exponentially tougher. Like maybe no chance of the record. Or slim. Stuhec will be dialed in when LV returns, maybe Gut, Goggia.

Of course she had been publicly stating that this last season is about fun, blah blah. I am a bit skeptical. This announcement that she wants to ski LL on last time.....because it means so much, loves it, etc.....can very easily be interpreted as "I want to race there, and between those there starts, break the record....then retire."

This is a lot different that retiring after this springs World Cup Finals. A late spring, summer and early fall of prep. Will do her zero good to ski at LL in 2019 unless she is ready. Wheelchair or not. I question her statements that the "overall" win record does not matter to her. Sure seems like it does.

I have heard that she was a mess at the VVMC where she was most recently diagnosed. She thought it was season ending.
 

Tricia

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I have heard that she was a mess at the VVMC where she was most recently diagnosed. She thought it was season ending.
It seemed as though the announcement of her injury, even after there was speculation, was very guarded.
I'm sure her camp is going to be very careful how things go with/for her this coming season.
 

hbear

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Announced she will return to LL at the race today. No surprise there given her drive for record and her success at LL.

Ilka didn’t look quite comfortable yet, I think this her first race back? Nice race by Gisin today and as 1st bib as well which is not an advantage at LL.
 

Muleski

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It seemed as though the announcement of her injury, even after there was speculation, was very guarded.
I'm sure her camp is going to be very careful how things go with/for her this coming season.

No doubt. But consider that "her camp" is at this point pretty much unlike that of anybody else in the sport {well, maybe Hirscher}. She has her own private team, within the USST. Heck, they even provide her with a trainer who is also her private chef. She has enormous hands-on support by RedBull, who is pretty much her biggest sponsor along with Head {whose support is incredible}. It extends to things like RedBull employing her sister. THEN you have her manager, agent, and business side. She is IMG's biggest female athlete by a wide margin, the have her agency team based right in Vail, including I believe, the head of all winter sports.

It's pretty clear that she is/was moving along into career number two, and that this year's farewell tour was orchestrated to play in line with that. Listen to her talking about "pictures", etc. Bet on her closing in on 2 Million Instagram followers, which is pure gold. The video above is her first video posted on her new YouTube channel. Watch the numbers take off there. She is a huge friend and business associate of designer Cynthia Rowley. She loves the red carpet. She is dating one of the top, and most popular players in the NHL.

All falling in place. Then.....oh, this injury. And Lake Louise wiped off her schedule. So we now see that this Stenmark record is important, personally, for her brand, whatever. Her retirement just did get extended a half season. And because of the dynamics of wrestling with this, there has been very little in the public about the nature of her injury. At first we hear knee, and we didn't even hear which knee, in the press. Which surprised me as it being her left knee is actually a plus, as I understand it. Her body has a LOT of mileage on it, and to WIN, not podium, not score WC points, she needs to lay it on the line. ALL she cares about are wins now. That simple. Five of them. She will smile and all at every venue and be great with the fans, but she wants wins.

I am sure that she will have all of the medical, PT and training resources available doing their best to keep her healthy, strong, and able to ski. That goes without saying. Agree. But the business, marketing and branding side of her camp is on this in a huge way. As popular as she is in her sport, it sure sounds like the opinion is that she could explode in popularity after her retirement. And they have had to just readjust this victory tour. Now is sure sounds like retirement at Lake Louise aka Lake Lindsey, which could be absolutely perfect. I have heard a few express that as the cards now sit on the table, 5 wins tis season will be tough. Wonder what happens if she gets it? Maybe she'll be at LL, but not race? Not a clue.

I think a lot of effort and care is going into "the whole thing." She is very well taken care of. And I thought it was big deal when she no longer had to fly on commercial aircraft. HaHa! That seems like a long time ago, and then MS jumped on that bandwagon quickly. Nice deals to have! Rock stars.

LV is a big business, and a hell of a skier/competitor. I do feel that she deserves a lot of special treatment and respect/admiration. Still odd to have a USST women's team that essentially is two at the very top. I hope that Lindsey does hold together physically, and does get the record...at Lake Louise.

All the best to her.

And, yes, nice race today. Thin numbers for the USST, with the injuries. Three starters? That Shiffrin kid does pretty well at LL for dabbling in speed!
 

Muleski

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So what happened. First guess from the video: it looks like she slightly over rotated the skis and they didn't engage, causing her to slide out.

Word I had was that she simply leaned into the hill, and did not have her right ski {outside ski} weighted and loaded. At this point, her line is almost always close to perfect. Kind of a "standard" risk with her. She has always tended to lean in. Lok at her most recent crashes. Like Cortina last year. Has a private virtual coach working with her to minimize it. Not that easy to fix. This was early on, just easing into it, on. great surface. Too bad. The good news.....it was not her right knee, which has "a lot of mileage"...and not just the knee. The tib plateau, etc.
 

Muleski

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Yes, but leaning would have been ideal IFF the ski had engaged with force.

All opinions always welcome on Pugski, and clearly expressed. Her head coach, and her paid, personal virtual coach who works with her team don't think its a good thing...ever. But as I tried to explain it often happens on her right footers. That leg is a bit "problematic".

Over and out on this one. Will consider discussing LV around January 10th in St.Anton. My hunch is that she skips Val D'Isere. That's in two weeks. Realistically, no chance. That hurts as she has won, many times at Val D'Isere.

Best to her.
 

hbear

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“Lean in” certainly is her Achilles heel.....so many crashes in her career due specifically that that dreaded move.

I know our coaches coach to eliminate it as well when they see it in the young racers they coach.

One can “get away” with it on occasion but I don’t know any that would encourage it.
 

Andy Mink

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Whatever caused the crash, and whatever impact it has on her going forward, it's hard to believe all that happened was a sprained ligament and a bone bruise. That would have been muscle tears, tendon snaps, and internal injuries for mere mortals! A lot of bouncing around with skis still attached.
 

scott43

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I want them to procreate for sooooo many reasons.
And I'll say this about PK, he's a great dude. He grew up here in Etobicoke, local kid. And you don't hear a lot about it but he donated $10 million to the Montreal Children's Hospital..yeah, he's a big deal and makes coin, but $10m is serious dough. He's a good guy. She's had good luck there.
 

Primoz

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So her retirement will be postponed by half a year.... OK.
Or year, or two or seven :D One thing is Stenmark's record, which I still think it's pointless thing when comparing how many chances for victory was in 80s and how many there is now, but ok if someone is in this have fun. The other thing is ego, and dating some golf/nfl/nhl star won't be enough to be where she wants to be, so somehow I think we will still see her ski for a while, unless next crash will be way more serious. I certainly hope not, but the way she skis it's definitely not out of question.
 

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