Lindsey Vonn’s bruised shin is healed and she has established quite a goal for the World Cup ski season that starts next week.

Vonn, the Olympic downhill champion, said she wants to break her American single-season record of 11 wins set last year and take aim at the all-time record of 14 victories established by Swiss great Vreni Schneider in 1988-89.

“I try to improve every year. Two years ago I had nine wins, last year I had 11, so I want to improve,” Vonn said Thursday.

“Vreni won 14, so it’s definitely possible. I’m just going to go out there and try to win as many races as I can.”

Two other women, Annemarie Moser-Proell of Austria and Anja Paerson of Sweden, also have won 11 races in one season, but only Schneider has won more. Among the men, Ingemar Stenmark of Sweden and Hermann Maier of Austria share the mark with 13 victories in one season, and French great Jean-Claude Killy won 12 back in 1967.

Vonn also will be aiming for her fourth consecutive overall World Cup title when the 37-race season kicks off with a giant slalom on the Rettenbach glacier in Soelden, Austria, on Oct. 23.

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After a brief stop in Finland, the women’s circuit comes to North America with races in Aspen, Colo., and Lake Louise, Alberta, in November and early December.

Vonn arrived at the Vancouver Olympics in February having bruised her right shin in training. The pain was so severe that she struggled to put on a ski boot and worried at one point if she would be able to compete.

Resorting to all sorts of therapy, including one that entailed wrapping her leg in topfen, an Austrian curd cheese said to reduce swelling, Vonn still managed to win the downhill and get bronze in the super-G.

“It’s doing pretty good now. It didn’t give me too many problems in Chile and New Zealand (where the U.S. ski team holds preseason training), so I’m confident that it should be good this season,” Vonn said.

Actually, Vonn had a series of injuries last season, including a bruised right knee and a broken right pinkie, but she didn’t require any surgery in the offseason and is ready to race again

“A skier’s life is always filled with injuries, so you just got to do the best you can,” she said.

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Vonn’s husband and chief adviser, Thomas, will again accompany her throughout the season.

Vonn was feted at celebrity events all summer and said the highlights were winning the ESPY for female athlete of the year and filming scenes for her favorite show, “Law & Order.”

“Those were the two highlights, but the whole summer was filled with highlights,” she said. “It’s definitely been a whirlwind but I had so much fun and really enjoyed everything.”

Vonn also walked the red carpet at the Academy of Country Music Awards, shot a series of commercials for her sponsors, attended fundraisers, appeared on Maxim’s “Hot 100” list and took part in a White House correspondents dinner.

In all, she took two months off after last season, more than she’s ever taken off before. Still, in June she traveled to Austria for three weeks of intensive training.

“There’s no shortcuts when you got to get ready for a new season, but I wanted to come into the summer fresh and take that time off and I think it really helped,” she said. “It let my body heal.”

After Austria it was off to Wimbledon to watch her favorite tennis player, top-ranked Roger Federer. Then came the on-snow camps in Chile and New Zealand.

“It was definitely the hardest summer I’ve had so far in fitness training,” Vonn said. “It’s been grueling but hopefully it will show in my skiing.”

 


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