Vonn added that she had been inspired after watching Norwegian Aksel Lund Svindal, a close friend and erstwhile training partner, win silver in his final race in Saturday's men's downhill.

"I was cheering on Aksel, because I know he wanted to finish strong, like me," she said.

"It was really inspiring to watch him get a medal in his final race and definitely inspired me to again push myself one more time to try to get on the podium.

"We both had our fairytale finish and I'm excited to celebrate our careers tonight!"

No doubts

Vonn, who posed for posterity photos after the race with her dog Lucy and all the other racers, insisted she had no doubts about her retirement, saying: "I'm in a position where my body isn't allowing me to ski the way I know that I can.

"I don't know that I can win any more and that's why I'm retiring. My body isn't allowing me to do what I need to do to win races. That's the best I could have done today. There's not another gear."

Asked if she thought she'd leave a Bolt-sized void in the sport, Vonn replied: "I hope not; there are a lot of good characters out there."

She singled out Italian Sofia Goggia, and Austrian Marcel Hirscher, Norway's Kjetil Jansrud and Italian Dominik Paris on the men's side before also naming US teammate Mikaela Shiffrin.

Vonn had caused an overnight spat with Shiffrin, who took exception to her assertion she could have won a medal in all five disciplines in Are.

But super-G champion Shiffrin, although absent from Are as she hones her technique for the slalom and giant slalom, was one of the first to congratulate Vonn.

"When you close out your career with a world champs medal... Big congrats to @lindseyvonn for a perfect final run," said Shiffrin, along with emojis of clapping hands and party poppers.

Vonn added: "There's a lot of people that have the potential to continue to grow the sport, but it's not just about success but doing everything you can to promote it and that's a part of your job as an athlete."

Turning to what lay ahead for her, the most successful female skier of all time was in no doubt: chilling at home with Canadian boyfriend PK Subban of the NHL's Nashville Predators and binge-watching US crime series Law & Order.

All done in the full knowledge that there would be no daily knee warm-up the following morning.

Agence France - Presse