Lindsey Vonn got a new knee earlier this year — and now she wants to test herself at the highest levels, announcing that she is training to return to competitive alpine skiing. Vonn, 40, says she's finally feeling healthy, five years after she retired.
"Well, it's off to Colorado…. I hope the [U.S. Ski Team] uniform still fits," Vonn said on Thursday via Instagram.
News of Vonn's comeback bid comes 20 years after she won her first World Cup race. The women's season for the 2024-25 Alpine World Cup began on Oct. 26 and will end in March 2025.
"Getting back to skiing without pain has been an incredible journey," Vonn said in a release from U.S. Ski & Snowboard. "I am looking forward to being back with the Stifel U.S. Ski Team and to continue to share my knowledge of the sport with these incredible women."
Vonn is one of the most decorated skiers of all time, and she still holds a number of records, including most World Cup victories by a woman or man in the downhill and the super-G. Her 82 World Cup wins trail only American Mikaela Shiffrin and Ingemar Stenmark of Sweden. She and Shiffrin are in an elite club of female skiers who have won World Cup events in all five disciplines: downhill, super-G, giant slalom, slalom and combined.
"Her dedication and passion towards alpine skiing is inspiring and we're excited to have her back on snow and see where she can go from here," U.S. Ski & Snowboard President and CEO Sophie Goldschmidt said.
Vonn's ability to excel in speed disciplines has taken a toll on her body, with knee injuries — and at least nine surgeries — disrupting her career on the competitive circuit, even as she continued to rack up wins between setbacks.
"I have severe tri-compartment degeneration but the main compartment that has been painful is the lateral compartment, or the outside of my knee," Vonn said in April. She described a type of knee replacement surgery in which bone is removed and replaced with titanium pieces.
"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 last month on Instagram.
If Vonn is able to return, it would be the latest sign that her abilities aren't subject to the same constraints as other athletes. Back in 2012, her thirst for speed and competition led her to argue for being allowed to race against men, a request that the International Ski Federation rejected.
Weeks later, she skied at up to 136 kilometers per hour (84.5 mph) in a downhill training run at Lake Louise in Canada — a speed reportedly unmatched by male skiers at the event.
Vonn had recently hinted at a potential return to racing. And in recent months, her presence on slopes in New Zealand and Austria caused a stir, fueling speculation that she might try to resume competitive skiing in December, when World Cup races will be held in Colorado.
Sofia Goggia, Vonn's friend and fellow speed specialist, welcomed those rumors, saying that a) it's a sign Vonn feels healthy; and b) it would be fun to have her back.
"It would be great to race in the World Cup with my idol," Goggia told the Olympics.com site last month.
Even before her knee surgery, Vonn set out last year to accomplish an imposing goal: taking on the terrifyingly steep Streif downhill course in Kitzbühel, Austria. Early in the course, racers face an 85% incline known as the Mausefalle (the Mousetrap). At the steepest jump, soaring distances can top 260 feet.
"When you look out of the starting gate and it's dark and you can't see the Mausefalle, it looks like you're jumping off the edge of the world and it's very intimidating," Vonn said afterward.
She tackled the roughly 2-mile course, and its soaring jumps, at night. On a pair of borrowed skis and on a knee she would soon replace, Vonn's speed reportedly topped 62 mph.
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