American ski racer Lindsey Vonn is picking up speed in her comeback bid at 40 years old
It could be the first step toward seeing her on the World Cup circuit again, maybe even on the podium.
“I honestly think she will win,” retired ski racer Ted Ligety said in an interview with The Associated Press. “From what I’ve heard, she’s been kicking (butt) and been really fast in training. Some of the women on the World Cup are going to be rudely awakened to have to compete against a Lindsey Vonn again.”
Vonn declined to talk after her practice session Friday. She chatted with several racers on the hill and again inside the lodge, where her dog, Lucy, became the center of attention.
In a post Friday afternoon on Instagram, Vonn wrote: “Happy to be able to take another step this weekend! Technically tomorrow will be my first race but I’m using it as a training opportunity to keep on building. … It’s been 6 years since I last raced so I still have a lot of equipment to test, finding my groove and really getting into racing form. I am having a lot of fun and want to keep on doing so!”
When she left the sport, Vonn’s 82 World Cup race victories stood as the record for a woman and within reach of the all-time Alpine record of 86 held by Swedish great Ingemar Stenmark. The women’s mark held by Vonn was surpassed in January 2023 by Mikaela Shiffrin, who now has 99 wins — more than any Alpine ski racer in the history of the sport. Shiffrin is currently sidelined after a crash in a giant slalom event in Killington, Vermont, last weekend. The next World Cup races for the women’s circuit will be held in a week in nearby Beaver Creek, Colorado. There’s no timeframe for Vonn’s return to racing.
Vonn’s last competition was in February 2019, when she finished third in a downhill during the world championships in Sweden. In a lot of ways, the three-time Olympic medalist stepped away still near the top of her game. But the broken arms and legs, concussions and torn knee ligaments took too big a toll and sent her into retirement.
Last April, she had surgery for a partial knee replacement. She felt good enough to give it another go.
Ligety, a two-time Olympic gold medalist, applauds her for her comeback bid.
