Lindsey Vonn and Mikaela Shiffrin are undoubtedly two of the greatest skiers in women’s skiing. So, when they team up, you just know things will get exciting. The pair has already competed together before. When Vonn was approaching retirement while Shiffrin began her skiing journey, a few sparks were flying. And now that, Vonn made her comeback at 40 years old after a six-year break from retirement, the drama began. The newly added team-combined event has brought intense competition to the ongoing competition. But what?

Well, the Minnesota native was pretty vocal about being “disappointed” in how Shiffrin handled her decision to race in the combined event with downhill world champion Breezy Johnson instead of pairing up with her. At first, Vonn posted a reaction on X that said, “Why am I not surprised?” along with a shrug emoji. After deleting that, she did a bit of a pivot, explaining that maybe her initial reaction wasn’t the most professional, but she was still upset. The real issue for Vonn?

The lack of communication. The news about Shiffrin’s decision surfaced through social media platforms but Vonn considered this approach unprofessional.  “I just think it’s a little unprofessional,” Vonn said, adding, “It’s just a simple phone call or text message.” The Olympic skier acknowledged her human nature but expressed disappointment because she wanted Shiffrin to communicate directly with her instead of turning to social media.

Shiffrin, on the other hand, was dealing with post-traumatic stress. However, she still planned to race in the slalom and team event. Lindsey Vonn later admitted that maybe her “Twitter fingers” weren’t the best way to handle the situation, but she stood by her disappointment about how everything unfolded.

At the end of the day, they picked the combined pairings based on the best results of the season, which is how Breezy and Mikaela ended up being the fastest duo. “It was 100% the right decision,” Vonn said. She did, however, post on X afterward, “Would have been fun to race with Mikaela, but Breezy earned the spot. Hopefully, there will be another chance in the future… if I can ski faster!” And in the end, Shiffrin and Johnson won the gold in this race, showing that the decision was, in fact, the right one after all. But Lindsey?

Lindsey Vonn’s return was more ‘oops’ than ‘wow’

Breezy Johnson had an epic comeback at the 2025 World Alpine Ski Championships. She snatched a gold in the combined event, just weeks after returning from a 14-month ban for anti-doping issues. She was fourth fastest in the downhill, and Mikaela Shiffrin, the absolute legend she is with 99 World Cup wins, brought it home in the slalom. Together, they crushed it with a combined time of 2:40.89—Shiffrin’s 15th world championship medal, and eighth gold in just 18 appearances. So yeah, they’re kind of a big deal.

Meanwhile, Lindsey Vonn, the 40-year-old skiing legend, wasn’t exactly living the dream. She teamed up with AJ Hurt for the team combined event, but after a downhill run that had her in 21st place, she had to hope her partner could work some magic. Hurt did what she could, but the team still ended up in 16th place with a total time of 2:43.87.

Vonn didn’t fare too well in the earlier events either—15th in the women’s downhill and did not finish in the Super-G. But don’t worry—next season, she’ll probably ski down the mountain. Gravity won’t know what hit it!