The St. Paul, Minnesota native retired in 2019 due to chronic right knee pain. It got so bad that completing even the most mundane tasks was a challenge. In a recent interview with Outside’s Sierra Shafer, she recounted difficulty keeping pace with a friend and their kids on a hike: “It’s kind of crazy that I can’t do a 20-minute walk with a six-year-old.”
In 2023, she underwent a partial knee replacement surgery in an effort to mitigate her debilitating arthritis. The robot-assisted operation involved removing the impacted part of her knee bone and implementing titanium pieces and a plastic meniscus. The ability to customize the operation specifically to Vonn, while preserving healthy bone and tissue, aided in her recovery. It made a life-changing difference.
“Physically I’m in possibly the best shape I’ve ever been in,” Vonn said at a news conference before the race. “My body doesn’t hurt, so that’s the best part of all.”
Many of the world’s top athletes have retired and come back to mixed results. Michael Jordan did it twice, leaving basketball initially in 1993 after winning three-straight NBA championships with the Chicago Bulls. He returned a year-and-a-half later and proceeded to repeat the three-peat in 1996-1998. He retired again, only to return again in 2001. His stint with the Washington Wizards was far less successful.
Tom Brady hung up his cleats in 2023, but came back 40 days after the announcement. He signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and led the team to a Super Bowl LV victory.
Lindsey Vonn of the United States during the women’s 2025 FIS Ski World Cup super-G race at Sun Valley.
Christopher Creveling-Imagn Images
Perhaps the closest comparison to Vonn is Michael Phelps, who put away his swim trunks after the 2012 Summer Olympics in which he added six medals (four golds) to his already historic trophy case. Two years later, he reversed course, swimming again professionally in 2014 and winning five gold medals at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio.
Unlike Jordan and Phelps, Vonn came back when she was 40, but what really separates her from the aforementioned list of athletes (Brady included) is how long she was out of the game. It nearly was six years — more than half a decade — between her retirement on Feb. 10, 2019 and return on Dec 7, 2024.
On March 23, 2025, she reunited with the podium at a World Cup super-G in Sun Valley.
Today is Dec. 12, 2026 and she’s a World Cup winner once again.
“We worked really hard, not just me but my whole team,” said the 41-year-old post-race. “From the equipment to the physical training, also hiring Aksel Lund Svindal.
“I knew I was skiing fast, but you never know until the first race. I was a little faster than I expected. I tried to be dynamic, I tried to be clean.”
With a laugh and a smile, she concluded: “It was pretty solid.”
On Saturday, Vonn will compete in another downhill, and on Sunday, she’ll make her season debut in the super-G — a discipline she claimed she’s been skiing “better” in.
The Sunday super-G brings with it a particularly high level of intrigue given that she and another Alpine icon, Mikaela Shiffrin, will go head-to-head in the race.
