BEAVER CREEK, Colo. (AP) 鈥 Lindsey Vonn now has a firm target for her return to World Cup ski racing at age 40: next weekend for a pair of super-G events in St. Moritz, Switzerland.
She has a goal, too, and it's not showing up at the starting gate simply to show up.
鈥淵ou know me well enough to know that success is not just participating,鈥 Vonn said at a news conference Friday night. 鈥淚 know my way back to a competitive level might take a race or two, but I certainly intend on getting back to where I was before.鈥
Where she was before was on the podium. Her last major race was February 2019, when she took third in the downhill during the world championships in Sweden.
鈥淔or me, when I鈥檓 focused on something, I have no problem working 110 percent to get to my goal, and that鈥檚 what it takes,鈥 Vonn said. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 just whimsically rejoin the U.S. Ski Team.
"I never stopped believing in myself. I never have my whole life 鈥 and I鈥檓 not going to stop now.鈥
Vonn teased her return to World Cup racing early Friday in an Instagram post . She said, 鈥淢y body is finally put back together. I hear St. Moritz is pretty nice this time of year.鈥
She's had plenty of success in St. Moritz, too, winning five of her 82 World Cup races at the venue. There will be super-G competitions next Saturday and Sunday.
鈥淚t鈥檚 the coolest thing ever,鈥 said Picabo Street, a two-time Olympic medalist and Vonn's former teammate. 鈥淚鈥檓 not surprised at all. I鈥檝e seen her intermittently and she鈥檚 stayed in great shape. She is the hardest-working person I鈥檝e met in my life 鈥 period.鈥
An assortment of injuries, including to her knee, sent Vonn into retirement. But a partial knee replacement last April has her feeling good enough again to give racing another chance.
鈥淚鈥檓 lucky that I have this second chance where I am physically, I feel like, as I was before,鈥 Vonn said. 鈥淚 know what I鈥檓 capable of if my body is cooperating. And thankfully that titanium piece (part of the new knee) is really working out well.鈥
Vonn earned enough points to be eligible to compete on the World Cup circuit through a series of lower-level competitions last weekend in Copper Mountain, Colorado. She鈥檚 been testing out the Birds of Prey course at Beaver Creek as a forerunner in training runs this week. She didn't take the hill Friday, but will again in a forerunning capacity ahead of the downhill on Saturday and the super-G on Sunday.
鈥淪he鈥檚 living her best life," said Street, who's doing commentary work at the Birds of Prey races this weekend for NBC. 鈥淪he鈥檚 earned every second of it.鈥
When Vonn left the tour, she had 82 World Cup wins 鈥 the record for a woman at the time and within reach of the all-time Alpine mark of 86 held by Swedish standout Ingemar Stenmark. The women鈥檚 record held by Vonn was eclipsed in January 2023 by Mikaela Shiffrin, whose 99 wins are more than any Alpine ski racer in the history of the sport.
鈥淚t鈥檚 awesome鈥 to have Vonn back, said Czech ski racer and snowboarder Ester Ledecka, who won the 2018 Olympic super-G in South Korea as Vonn finished tied for sixth. 鈥淚t was for me a little bit sad to see her finishing her career. I thought, 鈥楬ey, you should finish it when you want to, not because your body is not capable to let you do your runs.鈥 I鈥檓 very happy that she鈥檚 back and she鈥檚 feeling good and she鈥檚 happy.
鈥淚 think she鈥檒l be also very fast. So, I鈥檓 very happy to have her around.鈥
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