Lindsey Vonn looking to make history at FIS Alpine World Ski Championships
The 40-year-old will compete in the super-G on Thursday in Saalbach, Austria
Gabriele Facciotti/AP photo
When Lindsey Vonn first started talking about the possibility of a World Cup comeback, her goal was to be a forerunner at the world championships. She thought she’d maybe pick up a point-of-view job for NBC. Now she has her eyes on history.
“I like records, I’m not going to lie,” the 40-year-old told FIS on Monday.
Thursday’s super-G will be Vonn’s first global championship race since she became the oldest female Alpine medalist with her downhill bronze in Åre, Sweden in 2019. At that world championships, France’s Johan Clarey stepped on the podium at 37 years and 308 days old to set the men’s age record. Vonn said she hopes to set a “new standard of what’s possible” at her ninth worlds.
“I’ll take the ‘old records,’ no problem,” Vonn said. “I already had some—though (Federica) Brignone broke my record for the oldest winner (in World Cup history) and the oldest person on the podium — but listen, it’s been done by men, so why can’t it be done by women? I see no reason why it can’t be done. I just have to do it.”
Vonn cited injuries as the main reason for her retirement after 18 World Cup seasons. But after a successful knee surgery in April, Vonn said during a press conference in Beaver Creek this December that she feels stronger now than she did in her late 20s. Still, competing at the world championships feels surreal.
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“To be actually competing here was definitely not what I had anticipated,” she told FIS on Monday. “I didn’t anticipate racing in St. Anton. I didn’t anticipate doing so well so quickly.”
Vonn did her forerunning duties during the Birds of Prey World Cup in December. She nailed her official comeback race — a 14th-place super-G finish in St. Moritz on Dec. 21 — and then shocked the ski world with a sixth and fourth in the St. Anton downhill and super-G, respectively, on Jan. 11 and 12. Those results shifted her expectations.
“For me, what changed to be able to be here is that I’m fast, you know,” Vonn said. “I’m competitive, and I think I’m ready to compete for a medal. And that’s really the only thing that counts here at the world championships.”
Vonn has eight world championship medals, including two golds in the speed events from 2009. She was 20th on the first day of training in Saalbach, Austria on Tuesday and 29th on Wednesday, despite dealing with a recent illness.
“Today’s training was fine,” she told The Associated Press. “(I) definitely lacked energy, especially on the bottom of the course, but hopefully I can rest the rest of today and be ready for the super-G tomorrow.”
Vonn acknowledged global championships possess inherent pressure. But for now, she isn’t feeling them.
“I’m sure next year at the Olympics, if I make the team, there will be expectations. But right now, I don’t feel like I have any, and I honestly don’t even know where I will place,” she said. “I of course hope to be on the podium, but I could be 10th, and honestly, that’s fine as well. My goal has never been to be competitive this year. I’m far ahead of where I ever expected to be. So again, I think that just gives me an advantage.”
