For the third time in her career, Lindsey won all three World Cup races (two Downhills, one Super G) in Lake Louise from December 4-6, 2015, the Super G victory her 70th in World Cups and a new discipline record as she reached 25 Super G wins to overhaul previous record holder Hermann Maier. After this successful weekend, Lindsey not only led the Downhill and Super G World Cup rankings but also took the lead in the overall World Cup rankings. Later in December, Lindsey won the giant slalom in Åre, Sweden, her first Giant Slalom victory since January 2013.
January 2016 saw World Cup races at St Anton transferred elsewhere in Austria to Zauchensee, due to lack of snow. Despite the disruption, Lindsey won the Downhill race, held over two runs, as well as the Super G. With the first victory, Lindsey now had 36 Downhill wins to her name, the same number as Austrian skiing legend Annemarie Moser-Pröll in her career between 1969-80.
In Cortina d'Ampezzo, Lindsey once again proved her skills to win both Downhill and Super G, taking her to 11 wins in Cortina since her first podium in January 2004, and by winning the Downhill race she now exclusively owned the female record for Downhill with 37 victories. The success in Super G also brought her back on top of the overall World Cup rankings.
Come February, Lindsey added her fifth Downhill win of the season in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, also clinching third place in Super G and extending her lead in the overall rankings, and now held 76 wins in five World Cup disciplines. On a very emotional weekend for Lindsey in La Thuile, Italy, where the postponed Downhill of Crans-Montana was run instead alongside another Downhill and a Super G, Lindsey secured her 20th career World Cup Crystal Globe with a strong second place in Downhill on Saturday. By winning her eighth Downhill title, she became the most successful skiing athlete of all time in the speed disciplines. Third place in Super G on Sunday heralded her 126th career World Cup podium.
Heavy snowfall and strong wind characterised the Super G race in Soldeu, Andorra at the end of February. Lindsey started with bib number 16, was in the lead at the second split time but suddenly crashed heavily, doing a right turn shortly before the finishing line and having to be carried off the slopes by the emergency rescue sledge. The first diagnosis was a hairline fracture at the tibial plateau of the left knee! Despite this injury, Lindsey started in the alpine combination the next day, where at that point she lay second in the alpine combination ranking. She clinched the best time in Super G and with a solid slalom run ended in 13th place, sharing the lead in the alpine combination ranking with Marie-Michele Gagnon (CAN) and Lara Gut (SUI).
Unfortunately the joy about this excellent performance quickly turned to despair, as further examinations of her knee showed that Lindsey had a triple fracture in the tibial plateau. After long and careful consideration, Lindsey decided to abort her season. Though this was probably one of the toughest decisions of her career, with a likely fifth overall World Cup title to come and possibly other Crystal Globes. Such a decision takes a lot of courage and greatness, and once again showed Lindsey's exceptional personality.
The close co-operation within her team, the familiarity with her closest consultants and coaches around the US Ski Team and ASP Red Bull as well as Lindsey's ski technician once again played an essential role in this extraordinary season, where they were key to progress at such a high level and proved what's possible with such a team. Right now, rest is the order of the day for Lindsey, but she and her whole team are ready to start with the preparations for the upcoming season as soon as possible.