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!