BEAVER CREEK, Colo. (AP) — Lindsey Vonn will return to World Cup ski racing next weekend for a pair of super-G events in St. Moritz, Switzerland, as she continues her comeback at 40 years old.
Vonn teased her return in an Instagram post through her sponsor, Red Bull, on Friday morning. She said, “I hear St. Moritz is pretty nice this time of year.” The U.S. Ski Team then confirmed she will race in St. Moritz.
She's won five of her 82 World Cup races on the course at St. Moritz. There will be super-G competitions next Saturday and Sunday.
It will be her first major race since February 2019, when she took third in the downhill during the world championships in Sweden. An assortment of injuries, including to her knee, sent her into retirement. But a partial knee replacement last April has her feeling good enough again to give racing another chance.
Vonn earned enough points to be eligible to compete on the World Cup circuit through a series of lower-level competitions last weekend in Copper Mountain, Colorado. She’s been testing out the course at Beaver Creek as a forerunner in training runs this week. She's not going to take the course Friday, but will again in a forerunning capacity ahead of the downhill on Saturday and the super-G on Sunday.
When Vonn left the tour, she had 82 World Cup wins — the record for a woman at the time and within reach of the all-time Alpine mark of 86 held by Swedish standout Ingemar Stenmark. The women’s record held by Vonn was eclipsed in January 2023 by Mikaela Shiffrin, whose 99 wins are more than any Alpine ski racer in the history of the sport.
“It’s awesome” to have Vonn back, said Czech Republic ski racer/snowboarder Ester Ledecka, who won the 2018 Olympic super-G in South Korea as Vonn finished tied for sixth. “It was for me a little bit sad to see her finishing her career. I thought, ‘Hey, you should finish it when you want to, not because your body is not capable to let you do your runs.' I’m very happy that she’s back and she’s feeling good and she’s happy.
“I think she’ll be also very fast. So, I’m very happy to have her around.”
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AP skiing: https://apnews.com/hub/alpine-skiing
Pat Graham, The Associated Press