Lindsey Vonn Crashes in 2nd-to-Last Race of Career

Lindsey Vonn crashed in the super-G at the world championships in Sweden on Tuesday, straddling a gate midair and ending up in the safety nets. Vonn, however, got up and skied down the hill after being tended to by medical personnel. "Everyone was screaming as she crashed jumping through the gates," Austrian racer Nicole Schmidhofer says. "That's Lindsey. She [goes] 100% or nothing." The 34-year-old Vonn, the all-time leader in women's World Cup wins, announced last week that she'll retire after racing the super-G and downhill at the worlds, per the AP. Assuming she's OK, her last race will be Sunday's downhill event.

Vonn, who's been slowed by persistent pain in both of her knees, lost control in midair while skiing through a gate. The panel fitted between the two poles detached and got stuck on her boots. "Everybody, cross your fingers or hold your thumbs. That didn't look like a nice crash," said American teammate Mikaela Shiffrin, who won the race. Upon seeing Vonn's crash, Shiffrin looked away from the big video screen in the finish area. Italy's Sofia Goggia, who took silver, clasped her helmet with both hands, and the crowd gasped. Vonn was seen stretching both of her legs during TV interviews and appeared to be in pain—at the same time as the American anthem was being played to honor Shiffrin's victory.

(More Lindsey Vonn stories.)