Retiring Lindsey Vonn crashes at world championships

Feb. 5 (UPI) -- Lindsey Vonn was unable to complete the final Super-G race of her career after crashing at the Alpine Skiing World Championships on Tuesday in Sweden.

Vonn lost control while she was flying through the air and going thorugh a gate. A gate panel got stuck on her boots before she wiped out and slid into a fence. The 34-year-old was able to ski down the hill before she was tended to by medical personnel.

"I wanted to lay it all out on the line and I don't know, the light went out right before I started and I didn't have the right lenses on. I didn't see the piece of terrain exactly the way I should have. My skies kind of hooked up and I went straight through the panel," Vonn told NBC.

"If adversity makes you stronger I think I'm the Hulk at this point," Vonn tweeted after the crash.

Vonn announced her retirement Feb. 1 with an Instagram post.

"It's been an emotional two weeks making the hardest decision of my life, but I have accepted that I cannot continue ski racing," Vonn wrote. "I will compete at the World Championships in downhill and SG next week in Åre, Sweden, and they will be the final races of my career."

Vonn said she never wanted the storyline of her career to be about injuries. She said she did not tell anyone about undergoing surgery in the spring to remove a large portion of cartilage from a bone.

"My body is broken beyond repair and it isn't letting me have the final season I dreamed of. My body is screaming at me to stop and it's time for me to listen," she wrote.

Vonn's final run will be in the women's downhill Sunday in Sweden.