It’s Comeback Season: Lindsey Vonn’s Triumphant Return

Struggling to catch her breath and with tears of joy in her eyes, Lindsey Vonn concluded her comeback season at 40 years old after returning from a five-year retirement. Vonn placed second in the Audi FIS Ski World Cup finals on March 23 with a time of 1:13.64 on the Challenger course at the Sun Valley ski area in Idaho. Just 1.29 seconds behind first-place winner Laura Gut-Behrami, Lindsey Vonn became the oldest female Alpine skier to ever make the World Cup podium, breaking Alexandra Meissnitzer’s record at 38 years old in 2008.

Born in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota, Lindsey Vonn developed a passion for skiing at the ripe age of three. She began skiing locally in Buck Hill, Minnesota with Coach Eric Sailer. Sailer recognized her potential, and Vonn moved to Colorado with her father and grandfather to pursue skiing at Ski Club Vail. Vonn spent her formative years at Vail, honing her racing skills in all alpine disciplines. She started competing early; she had her first race at the age of seven, and she was nine years old for her first international race. Vonn showed a particular interest in the Super-G and downhill event, winning Italy’s Trofeo Topolino at 14 years old and becoming the first American female to win the slalom race in the 11-14 age group. Vonn later began her World Cup victories in the downhill event at Lake Louise, Alberta, in 2004. By 2013, she had already won four World Cup titles, an Olympic gold medal, and two Olympic bronze medals. 

Despite her early success, Vonn faced many challenges, including a long history of knee injuries. Her accidents began in 2013 during the Alpine Ski World Championships in Austria. On the opening day, she crashed during the super-G and was diagnosed with tears in her medial collateral and anterior cruciate ligaments in her right knee, along with a lateral tibial plateau fracture—all of which ended her season. After corrective knee surgery for the aforementioned ailments, she prepared to return to Beaver Creek but crashed during a training run. She suffered a complete ACL tear, compounded by a torn MCL and additional joint damage. As a result of her injuries, she was forced to withdraw from the 2014 Sochi Olympics. Her following 2015-16 season ended early because she suffered an additional three fractures. In November 2016, she severely fractured her right arm during a training crash, and during the following season, she injured her back during a Super-G event. By 2018, Vonn had undergone three more surgeries—not including additional knee surgeries—and suffered from a fractured ankle, a fractured humerus, and a spinal joint dysfunction. Her breaking point that pushed her into retirement occurred in the 2018-19 season, when she completely tore her LCL and had three fractures in her left knee. After winning bronze in the downhill event at the February 2019 World Championships, she retired, stating that her body was broken beyond repair and that she couldn’t continue ski racing.

During her retirement, Vonn focused on business ventures and embraced personal interests, including new sports like wakeboarding and flyboarding. She particularly focused on her foundation, the Lindsey Vonn Foundation, which aims to support women in sports and STEM education. While she had explored new interests, her knee pain proved to extend beyond skiing and affected her overall mobility. She was determined to regain her ability to live a full life. In April 2024, Lindsey Vonn underwent a partial knee replacement surgery to address her long standing knee issues. “With this new knee that is now a part of me… I feel like a whole new chapter of my life is unfolding before my eyes," she said in October on Instagram. 

Despite Vonn’s hopefulness, the media was uncertain about her surgery. Some well-known skiers doubted her ability to recover from a knee replacement and thought returning to skiing was risky. “She’s completely gone mad,” said Austrian downhill skier Franz Klammer. “There is a risk that Vonn will tear her artificial knee to pieces. And, in such a way that she will never be able to do any sport properly for the rest of her life,” Former World Cup alpine ski racer Pirmin Zurbriggin also told Swiss newspaper Blick. Their remarks were not intended as personal attacks; rather, they reflected the ski community’s genuine concern about the limits of Vonn’s surgery and the extreme physical demands of professional skiing. 

Vonn initially returned to snow in late summer just to see how it felt. She started testing it out, and with gradual, hard work she realized she could ski pain-free. Vonn was finally back in practice by October 2024. Ignoring the doubts the ski community expressed, Vonn officially announced her return to skiing in November 2024—almost six years after retiring. Dispelling initial concern and skepticism, she demonstrated consistent improvements in speed and confidence during her training at Beaver Creek preceding her first race. Just a month after announcing her return—two months after the start of her training—Vonn began the World Cup season on December 21 in St. Moritz. There, she finished 14th in the Super-G—an impressive result considering her five year hiatus. She followed with a sixth place finish in the downhill event despite having a low starting number of 32. Her most notable finish was on January 12 in the Super-G at St. Anton, where she placed fourth despite the poor visibility that day. Throughout the season, her preliminary races demonstrated true determination and perseverance in the wake of her knee replacement. Vonn capped the season on March 23 with a remarkable push, crossing the finish line mere seconds behind Laura Gut-Behrami in the Super-G finals event. “I literally gave every single last ounce of energy that I had in the last race of the season,” Vonn explained. “I could barely breathe [at the finish]; maybe because I was crying.”

Looking ahead, Vonn intends to continue her career by potentially joining the U.S. Olympic team in the 2026 Milan-Cortina games. Despite her age, her podium win this season exemplifies her capacity to compete in the 2026 Winter Olympics. Regardless of her medal outcomes in the next Olympics, she plans to retire. Lindsey Vonn serves as an inspiration: she shows athletes everywhere that neither injuries nor age define your limitations. Vonn is redefining possibilities, and it’s clear that she isn’t chasing medals—she’s chasing history.