\'Like I got hit by a truck\' - Lindsey Vonn on Super-G crash

SHOWS; ARE, SWEDEN (FEBRUARY 5, 2019) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) SKIER, LINDSEY VONN, SAYING: "Yeah, I've got a bit of a shiner and I feel like I've been hit by an 18-wheeler.

But other than that I'm great.

My knees are the same as they were before the race so that's good.

And I'm just going to be really sore.

My neck's going to be really sore.

I got the wind knocked out of me so my ribs are oddly sore, but I'll be fine.

Sunday will be great." 2.

WHITE FLASH 3.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) SKIER, LINDSEY VONN, SAYING: "It is what it is, I can't change it.

I've done my best my entire career, I've worked as hard as humanly possible, I've come back from way too many injuries and I'm not able to do it and that's just life.

Not everybody can be Tom Brady and win the Super Bowl for like the millionth time.

I think 82 wins is something to be really proud of." 4.

WHITE FLASH 5.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) SKIER, LINDSEY VONN, SAYING: "Going fast.

You know, it's you can't really find the adrenaline and the speed and the risk involved in ski racing in anything else.

I kind of got that feeling when I was driving a Formula One car but it still wasn't the same.

Your body's not physically in harm's way.

I don't know how I'm going to replace that feeling.

I don't think business is going to fill that void, but it's worth a shot." STORY: Lindsey Vonn's hopes of a gold medal in the penultimate race of her glittering career were ended by a high-speed crash but Mikaela Shiffrin claimed victory in a nailbiting Super-G on the first day of racing at the world championships on Tuesday (February 5).

It was a day of starkly contrasting fortunes for the two figureheads of the U.S. ski team.

The 23-year-old Shiffrin had just put down what turned out to be the winning run, edging out Italian Sofia Goggia by 0.02 seconds, and was watching the screens in the finish area as speed queen Vonn started.

Former Olympic champion Vonn, winner of 82 World Cup races, began well but lost her line as she approached a small jump and hit a marker gate, before careering across the slope at high speed and into the safety netting.

Shiffrin could hardly bring herself to watch as Vonn was attended to by course officials and medics, but thankfully the 34-year-old got back on her skis and made her way to the bottom.

She waved to the crowd and received warm applause.

"I feel like I've been hit by an 18-wheeler," Vonn told a news conference later.

"I got the wind knocked out of me but it's okay.

I wasn't expecting it.

I'll have to watch the video." The technical layout caused problems for many, but Shiffrin, who already has 56 World Cup wins including 13 this season, found the balance between speed and control to power to gold.

It was her fourth world title but the first three had all been in slalom, the event in which she is almost untouchable.

Swiss Corinne Suter was third, 0.05 slower than Shiffrin.

Only 0.54 seconds separated the top 10 finishers.

"This is crazy," she said.

"It was a really tight race, the differences were like nothing.

It was a fight.

It's tough, all these girls deserved to win." Two-time world champion Vonn, who has struggled with knee injuries throughout her career, has said she is retiring after the championships in the Swedish resort.

She could still end her career in fairytale fashion, however, with the downhill still to come, provided she suffered no damage during her spill on Tuesday.

Despite the Super-G course being slightly shortened, it still proved a formidable piste with several skiers going off.

Another American, Laurenne Ross, also crashed heavily as the cloud cover came down to create tricky light conditions.

Czech Ester Ledecka, surprise gold-medallist in Super-G at last year's Winter Olympics, finished outside the top 20.