Bring it on boys! Lindsey Vonn wants to compete against men in 2018
Lindsey Vonn returned to the slopes over the weekend, competing in the World Cup circuit in Austria.
Vonn finished 13th on Sunday in her return to action. She had been away from skiing for nearly a year after fracturing her left knee during a super-G race in Andorra last February.
Vonn needs 11 more World Cup victories to break Ingemar Stenmark's career record of 86 victories. She plans to continue competing in World Cup events and also has her eyes set on the 2018 Olympics after missing Sochi in 2014 due to injury.
But the Minnesota native is also eyeing something else.
She is hoping to compete against men at a World Cup event in Canada in 2018.
"I know I'm not going to win, but I would like to at least have the opportunity to try," Vonn told the Denver Post. "I think I've won enough World Cups where I should have enough respect within the industry to be able to have that opportunity."
But whether or not it will happen remains to be seen. Vonn made a similar request in 2012, but that request was denied, and NBC Sports notes it doesn't appear the federation has changed its stance.
"I just don't see the interest," said the International Ski Federation's women's race director Atle Skaardal to the Denver Post. "For me it's a meaningless comparison. It doesn't matter if she's one second behind or a half-second ahead. We compete female against female and men against men. To me it doesn't matter if one gender is faster or slower."
