If there’s only one word to describe Lindsey Vonn, it’s phenomenal. Coming back after a gap of six years, many would not have wanted to leave their cozy retirement stint to begin the toil all over again. But Vonn is a born champion. She wanted to end things on her own terms. Back in 2019, the alpine skiing queen last appeared on the snow. Unfortunately, things didn’t quite turn out as per her expectations. The reason? Her lingering knee injury.

Fast forward six years, and now Vonn has a titanium knee, which is perfectly playing second fiddle to her comeback aspirations. After Vonn finished 14th in her comeback Super G race last year, it was time for the queen to return downhill. With 43 downhill victories among her 82 World Cup triumphs, Vonn is undoubtedly one of the best downhill specialists. And while she could not register a victory in St. Anton, Austria, her 6th place finish was stunning enough.

After all, she was competing in a major competition after a long gap, that too at 40! Yet, Vonn was merely 0.58s behind the winner, which speaks volumes of how incredible the Alpine queen performed in Austria. Speaking with the broadcaster Eurosport after the race, Vonn made a bold claim. She stated that she could be a lot faster than her speed was in the race. “That was fun… I still made a couple of mistakes; I know I can be faster.” For the records, Vonn emerged as the fastest racer in the initial half of the race. Her top speed touched 124 kph!

Unfortunately, despite her incredible performance, Vonn had to witness a sorry incident. Putting up an even better show, Italian skier Federica Brignone clinched her maiden downhill victory. Not only that, at 34 years old, the Italian broke the record of Lindsey Vonn to become the oldest World Cup Downhill and Giant Slalom winner. With 30 World Cup victories under her belt, Brignone is now the most successful female Italian skier of all time.

However, as impressive a performance as Brignone put up, it did not make Lindsey Vonn perturbed. Oozing confidence after the race, the 40-year-old comeback queen stated, “I haven’t started outside the top 30 since I was probably 17 years old. All things considered, it was a great start.” After all, she has been toiling really hard to make a mark after her comeback. And Vonn is not shy about admitting that she is here to rule. Ahead of her historic return, the alpine skiing legend issued a warning to all her fellow competitors. 

Lindsey Vonn details her grueling workout schedule 

Lindsey Vonn is surely on a mission. While her journey back was laden with thorns, Vonn’s decision to come back was also met with significant criticism. Eminent personalities expressed their doubts about how feasible it would be to get back to mainstream racing at such an advanced age. They also stated Vonn might not be fully aware of all the risks that are involved with her decision. 

But guess what? Vonn is well-educated about what she wants to do. Speaking with the Associated Press, the 40-year-old made it clear that she had nothing to prove to anybody. Thus, she was doing this for herself and the skiing accolades do not lure her now. Sharing her grueling routine with the Associated Press in an interview dated December 9, 2024, Vonn stated, “I’m loving every single second, but I’m not out here just for fun.”

She further added, “I’m working hard for a reason. I’ve had a couple of sessions at 3:45 in the morning. There’s nothing I would wake up early for except ski racing.” Thus, riding high on confidence, Lindsey Vonn is surely turning a lot of heads with her insane comeback stint. It will now be interesting to see whether Vonn can clinch her 83rd World Cup victory anytime soon or not.