The American skiers had hit the slopes of the FIS Ski World Cup dreaming of domination, but those ambitions have taken a hit— quite literally. First, Mikaela Shiffrin was devoid of her landmark 100th win due to a nasty hip abrasion after her crash in Gurgl. And now, Lindsey Vonn’s return to competitive skiing after 6 years has her showing up battered and bruised.

Truly, it’s been a tough ride for Vonn, who left the sport in 2019 after a series of major injuries and had a knee replacement in April that saw her learning to walk from scratch. While that progress had been commendable, a little bruised patch on the body after a ski session may not seem like a worrisome sight. Although it is. Indicative that the risk of injury is always lurking around the corner when you’re carving turns on the slopes.

Lindsey Vonn suffers brutal bruises in practice

As seen in her Instagram story, Lindsey Vonn’s downhill practice turned out anything but smooth. Her ski poles clipped two of the flags as she took sharp turns down the slope. In the process, she not only knocked down both the visual markers with her poles but naturally had her hands impacted by the jerks, too.

Thus, in her first story, Vonn added the descent video and addressed the mishap, “For those of you asking about my arms, When I do this…” She broke the suspense in the next story, which was nothing but an image of her arm bruised with a huge purple patch and a caption that reads, “This happens.”

However, apart from this little hitch, the 40-year-old Lindsey Vonn appears to be in the form of her life. In another story, before the injury update, she showed herself lifting a rather heavy barbell in a deadlift position. While rap music played in the background, her confidence and fitness levels appeared to be at their peak. As they should be ahead of her mega comeback after a 6-year-long hiatus from the sport!

Vonn’s ski comeback is now ‘officially’ the talk of the town

At 40, the professional skier Lindsey Vonn is all-cleared to compete in her first ski race after nearly six years of a break, this Thursday. Shortly from now, she’ll be seen at the FIS Fall Festival at Copper Mountain, Colorado, for the same, as confirmed by the U.S. Ski Team Head Coach Paul Kirstofic.

Kirstofic also lent his two cents on how Vonn might fare in the event. He said, “Obviously, her history speaks for itself, and she’s definitely the most decorated speed skier out there and has done amazing things throughout her career.” Apart from this, he was excited to watch her in action after so long, “So it will be really, really fun and interesting to see what she can do.”

But from Lindsey Vonn’s perspective, these are the all-important races that she cannot afford to take lightly. She needs to work on her FIS points ranking, as a minimum level is necessary to enter World Cup speed events. Currently, Vonn has 104.81 Downhill points as well as 93.02 points in Super-G. But to enter as a wildcard, she needs to lower her FIS points to below 80 and only then there’s a glimmer of hope.

Also, another question is whether she can put forth her best right from the start. Well, that’s what champions do so we wouldn’t be surprised if Vonn pulls it off. However, her coach believes, ‘it will be a building process.’ “The full race intensity is something that’s difficult to replicate. But I think if she stays healthy and continues to improve the way she is, I think she will be competitive,” said Kristofic recently. Amidst all this, how excited are you to watch her compete? Let us know below!