In her 125th career World Cup downhill start, 24 years after her debut and eight years since her last major win, Lindsey Vonn sped to a stunning victory in St. Moritz, Switzerland, on Friday.
It was as if Vonn announced to the world that not only is she back after a six-year retirement, the 41-year-old American slopes legend is ready to rule downhill skiing again at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics in February.
And it came only six weeks after she told The Times that she “had nothing to prove.” In October she compared her comeback to that of Michael Jordan, saying that his return from retirement isn’t “part of his legacy at all.”
“I’ve already succeeded,” Vonn continued. “I’ve already won. I was on the podium. I have the record for the oldest medalist in World Cup by seven years. I feel like this journey has been incredible.”
Lindsey Vonn, center, celebrates her FIS Alpine Ski World Cup Women’s Downhill win in St Moritz, Switzerland.
(Mateo Sgambato/Getty Images)
Vonn’s math is correct. She certainly is the oldest woman to win a World Cup race and has 83 victories across all World Cup disciplines. Federica Brignone of Italy set a record a year ago when she won a World Cup race — she won 10, actually — at age 34. Brignone is not racing this weekend because of an injury.
Vonn is the only American woman to win an Olympics gold medal in downhill, having done so at the 2010 Vancouver Games. She also won bronze medals in the super-G 2010 and downhill in 2018.
Oh, and she is the first World Cup winner with titanium implants in her right knee.
Vonn finished with a flourish Friday, taking the lead by 1.16 seconds ahead of Mirjam Puchner of Austria despite trailing by 0.61 after the first two time checks. Vonn’s eventual victory was by 0.98 seconds when upstart Austrian Magdalena Egger took second place.
After a ho-hum first half, Vonn posted the fastest times of anyone through the bottom half, reaching 74 mph and completing the course in 1 minute, 29.63 seconds.
“It was an amazing day, I couldn’t be happier, pretty emotional,” Vonn told Swiss broadcaster RTS. “I felt good this summer but I wasn’t sure how fast I was. I guess I know now how fast I am.”
After laying in the snow beyond the finish line, Vonn saw her time and raised her arms. She stood and yelped, then placed her hands to her left cheek in a purely American gesture, mimicking NBA star Steph Curry’s “Night, night.”
Lindsey Vonn takes 1st place during the Audi FIS Alpine Ski World Cup Women’s Downhill.
(Alain Grosclaude/Getty Images)
“In my mind, I was thinking, ‘OK, well, I just need to ski the pitch really clean and carry my speed down,’” Vonn told reporters after the race. “I still didn’t ski the best that I could have on the compression at the bottom, but I tried to be dynamic, tried to be clean, the way I’ve been skiing and training, and it was pretty solid.”
Vonn has been working with a new coach, 36-time World Cup winner Aksel Lund Svindal. The partnership is already proving promising.
“We worked really hard, not just me but my whole team, from the equipment to the physical training, also hired Aksel,” Vonn said. “I knew I was skiing fast, but you never know until the first race. I think I was a little faster than I expected. I think I had a great run, but I also made some mistakes, so I’m excited for tomorrow.”
Vonn will take part in another downhill race Saturday and a super-G on Sunday.
