Lindsey Vonn, now 40 years old, is gearing up for her return to the World Cup at St. Moritz, Switzerland, this weekend after undergoing successful partial knee replacement surgery earlier this year—and she’s making a significant impact as she does.
Vonn recently addressed critics questioning her comeback. On X, she posted, “You know, I’m getting pretty tired of people predicting negative things about my future. It’s enough now. … Did they all become doctors and I missed it, because they talk like they know more than the best doctors in the world.”
In a Thursday interview with Eurosport’s Viktoria Rebensburg, Vonn expressed frustration with the idea that people perceive her as taking more risks than others. “I know downhill probably better than almost anyone out there,” she said.
Vonn retired from competitive skiing in 2019 after 18 years on the World Cup circuit but has since competed in lower-level events in Copper Mountain, Colorado, to qualify for the World Cup races again. She will race in two super-G events in St. Moritz, a place where she’s won five World Cup races and secured ten podium finishes, with one race scheduled for Saturday and the other on Sunday.
“Things haven’t changed now that I’ve had a knee replacement,” Vonn said to Eurosport, which is a division of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), the parent company of CNN. “My doctors have cleared me. They are very confident in what I’m doing. I wouldn’t be doing it if it was a reckless idea. I think a lot of people have a lot of wild ideas about how crazy it is what I’m doing, but I’m not a dumb person. I’ve talked to the best doctors in the world, and they’ve cleared me to do this.”
Vonn is venturing into uncharted territory. At her age, achieving a podium finish or a win would be a groundbreaking achievement. In October, Federica Brignone became the oldest woman to win a World Cup race at 34 years, 104 days old. For the men, Johan Clarey holds the record for the oldest podium finisher at 42, and Didier Cuche is the oldest winner at 37.
Vonn, who competed in a training run for the women’s World Cup downhill race in Beaver Creek, Colorado, on December 12, is optimistic about her form. “I feel like I’m in my early 20s,” she told Eurosport. “It feels great. It’s like a whole new world for me. My goals, I’m trying to take it step by step. I’m trying not to get ahead of myself. I know that it’s going to take a little time to get back into it. I know that I’m skiing well, but I haven’t raced in almost six years. It’s going to take a second. But I think I can get back to a similar level to what I was before.”
On Instagram, Vonn expressed that she’s not just rebuilding her knee, but herself. “Not just my knee, but as a person,” Vonn wrote. “I am so much stronger today than I ever was before. I believe in myself. No matter my age or my history. No matter what people may say, I am doing this for me. I don’t need to prove anything to anyone. I don’t need the spotlight or attention. I simply want to do something that brings me joy and to share that joy with my family, friends, team, and all of you. I am not holding on to the past; I am embracing the future. Call me naive, but I believe in the impossible. Because it’s only impossible until someone does it.”
Vonn mentioned to Eurosport that she may eventually need another knee replacement in the future, whether she skis or not. “But that would happen whether I skied or didn’t ski,” she said.
“Any time you’re skiing downhill, or honestly any alpine event, you always take a risk,” Vonn added. “It doesn’t matter who you are. Anything can happen. That’s the risk that we all take.”
With 82 World Cup wins, Vonn sits third on the all-time list, behind Sweden’s Ingemar Stenmark (86 wins) and her fellow American Mikaela Shiffrin (99 wins). But Vonn is not racing to catch Shiffrin. “I’m not here to prove anything to anyone,” Vonn said. “I’m really happy with what I achieved in my career. I’m the No. 2 most successful women’s skier of all time. That’s perfectly fine with me.”
