Lindsey Vonn says her Olympic comeback is fueled by a love of skating

New York – When Lindsey Vonn retired from alpine skiing in 2019, she walked away from the sport as one of the most successful skiers in history. Six years later, she is back with her sights set on competing at the V Winter Olympics in February in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy.

But regardless of how that comeback ends, Vonn isn’t worried that it will take away from what she’s already accomplished.

“It’s different because I didn’t have anything to prove,” said Vonn, 41, who topped the World Cup podium for the first time since 2019 when she finished second in the Super-G season finals in Sun Valley, Idaho, last March.

She continued: “I don’t think anyone remembers Michael Jordan coming back. I don’t think this is part of his legacy at all.” “I did it. I actually won. I was on the podium. I have the record for the oldest World Cup medalist at seven years.” [she set the previous record in 2019]. “I feel like this trip has been amazing.”

Vonn has three Olympic medals, but won her only gold medal 15 years ago. She has won eight world championship medals, but only one since 2017; Her last gold medal came in 2009. But the comeback is less about reliving that past and more about supporting the present.

“I have finished my career, and I would certainly like to finish this chapter in a better way than I did in 2019,” said Vonn, who was speaking Tuesday at the U.S. Olympic Committee media summit in Manhattan. “I feel like I’m happy and free. I’m doing it because I love it. I’m not doing it to prove anything to anyone.”

Vonn missed the 2014 Winter Games with a right knee injury, an injury that led to her retirement in 2019. But after having partial knee replacement surgery last year, she decided she wasn’t done skating just yet.

“After the replacement, I realized things were really different,” she said. “I felt really good in my body, and I kept pushing myself more and more to see what I could do. Skiing and racing seemed like the next logical step.”

She said she is a different skater than she was when she first started competing internationally two decades ago.

“I have a much greater perspective now, having been away from the sport for six years,” she said. “This allows me to compete in a different way and I think that actually gives me an advantage.

“Alpine skiing has a lot to do with accumulated knowledge. Obviously I have accumulated a lot of knowledge, because I have been racing for a very long time.”

Vonn, whose comeback put her on the cover of Time magazine this week, said she is in the best shape of her career. But she must still earn enough points at this winter’s World Cup tournament to qualify for the Olympics.

She said she might not have thought about racing at the highest level again if next February’s Games had not been scheduled for Cortina, where she won a record 12 World Cup races. She also scored her first of 138 World Cup podiums in Cortina in 2004.

“My goal has always been Cortina again. It’s a special place for me,” she said.

“I didn’t want to set that as a goal, because I didn’t know if I would be able to compete, let alone qualify or finish the season. Once I trained more and got in better shape, I told myself this is an achievable goal. I can do this.”

And if she couldn’t, that wouldn’t detract from the fact that she tried. Or what you’ve already accomplished.

“I’m at peace with where I am in my life,” she said. “I don’t need to do ski racing, but I definitely love ski racing and I have nothing to prove. So I don’t feel like I have a lot of pressure, even though my dad says this is the most pressure I’ve ever been under in my entire life.”