Lindsey Vonn last competed in a downhill race 6 years ago.  Although she did try her best to salvage the race in Sweden, she finished third, stopping at 82 World Cup victories with 2 World Championships and an Olympic gold medal. Fast forward to 2024, the entire skiing realm learned that it was not the end of the road for Vonn. At the age of 40, Vonn shocked her fans as she announced her return to the competitive realm of Alpine skiing. 

And it was a return for the ages! Showing no signs of rust whatsoever, Vonn had an impressive outing at the St. Moritz World Cup’s Super-G race. Clocking an impressive timing of 1:15.36s, Vonn finished 14th. However, her rank only tells half the story. She was just 1.18s short of Cornelia Huetter, who was the winner of the race. Thus, it is quite evident that it is just a matter of time before Vonn might land up with her 83rd World Cup victory. And her latest update hints at a major move ahead. 

As per an official update from NBC on X dated January 10, 2025, Lindsey Vonn will return downhill! As it is widely known, downhill races were one of the special areas where Vonn shone brightly during the peak of her career. Come January 11, 2025, Vonn is all set to make her comeback downhill at the St. Anton race in Austria. Interestingly, this will be the first instance where she will be racing downhill since her appearance at the 2019 World Cup. 

Now, this will surely be a huge area of interest for skiing fans. After all, Lindsey Vonn stands third in the all-time list of athletes having the most world cups. Her 82 wins stand just behind Ingemar Stenmark(86) and Mikaela Shiffrin(99). However, more interestingly, Vonn is the undisputed queen of downhill races. Out of her 82 World Cup wins, 43 have been downhill races. Thus, coming back to well-known territories, Vonn would try to continue her merry downhill run. 

However, despite her vibrant comeback, the negatives are not leaving her easily. Her decision to return at an advanced age has not sat well with many. Thankfully, the negativity does not seem to bother her much. Being the champion she is, Lindsey Vonn has hit back at her critics significantly. 

Lindsey Vonn identifies a pattern in the negativity

Lindsey Vonn’s critics included the likes of former skiing icons. For example, the Swiss Alpine skier, Pirmin Zurbriggen thinks that Vonn is making a big mistake. While Zurbriggen himself retired at 27, he opined that in order to push herself beyond her natural limits, Vonn might put herself in some serious trouble. The 61-year-old also opined that Vonn might not be fully aware of how much risk is actually involved. He even commented, “Can Lindsey accept it if she comes 25th?” 

Despite her long history of injuries, the alpine skiing queen is upbeat about her chances this time. Reacting to the criticism, Vonn did not hold back. In fact, she was quite open about how there seemed to have identified a certain common element in the criticism she has been facing.  Replying to Zurbriggen’s comments on X, Vonn wrote, “You know, I’m getting pretty tired of people predicting negative things about my future. It’s enough now. Bernard, Sonja, and now Pirmin… is there a reason all former Swiss skiers think this way? Did they all become doctors and I missed it, because they talk like they know more than the best doctors in the world.” Surely, with Vonn looking determined, it now remains to be seen whether she can replicate her downhill performance once again come Saturday.