Lindsay Vonn sets a record straight out of retirement
It’s been six years since one of the most decorated skiers in the world, Lindsay Vonn, stepped away from competitive skiing due to a series of injuries to her left leg in 2018.
And it seems she’s wasted no time getting back in the swing of things. On Sunday, at age of 40, Vonn made headlines by becoming the oldest woman to earn a medal in a World Cup race, following her performance in the World Cup finals held in Sun Valley, Idaho, where she placed second in the Super-G race.
Three things to know
- While her 2018 injuries following a crash during a training session were substantial, they were just the tip of the iceberg. Vonn had long battled knee injuries and undergone at least nine surgeries throughout her career, which had an impact on her competitive performance even as she continued to rack up wins between setbacks.
- In November 2024, Vonn announced her plans to return to skiing after undergoing total knee replacement surgery.
- “Getting back to skiing without pain has been an incredible journey,” Vonn said last year in a release from U.S. Ski & Snowboard. “I am looking forward to being back with the Stifel U.S. Ski Team and to continue to share my knowledge of the sport with these incredible women.”
A triumphant comeback
There was a lot of uncertainty surrounding Vonn’s return to the sport Sunday.
But she quickly reclaimed her form by finishing in second place in the World Cup Super-G race, just behind Switzerland’s Lara Gut-Behrami.
Vonn has now become the oldest female racer alpine ski racer to stand on the podium at a World Cup race, beating out Austrian Alexandra Meissnitzer’s record at nearly 35 years old in 2008.
“It was (expletive) hard,” Vonn told the Associated Press. “This is not easy what I’m doing. It just felt really good to say I did it. That I can still do it.”