When she retired from alpine skiing in 2019, she left the sport as one of the most successful skiers in history. Six years later, she is back with the goal of competing in the 5th Winter Games in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, in February.
But no matter how her comeback ends, Vonn isn’t worried that it will undermine what she’s already accomplished.
“This is different because I didn’t have anything to prove,” said Vonn, 41, who was on the World Cup podium for the first time since 2019, when she placed second at the super-G season finals in Sun Valley, Idaho, last March.
“I don’t think anyone remembers Michael Jordan coming back. I don’t think that’s part of his legacy at all,” she continued. “I’ve already succeeded. I’ve already won. I’ve been on the podium. I hold the record as the oldest World Cup medalist at 7 years old (she set the previous record in 2019). I feel like this journey has been incredible.”
Vonn has won three Olympic medals, but her only gold medal came 15 years ago. She has won eight medals at the world championships, but only one since 2017. Her last gold medal was in 2009. But the comeback is less about rekindling the past and more about reinforcing the present.
Speaking at the United States Olympic Committee’s media summit in Manhattan on Tuesday, Vonn said, “I’ve come to the end of my career. I want to close that chapter probably in a better way than I did in 2019.” “I feel 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 Olympics with a right knee injury, which led to her retirement in 2019. But after undergoing partial knee replacement surgery last year, she decided she wasn’t done skiing yet.
“After the change, I could see that things had changed a lot,” she said. “My body was feeling great, so I kept pushing myself further to see what I was capable of. Skiing and racing seemed like the obvious next step.”
She’s a different skier than she was when she first started competing internationally 20 years ago, she said.
“After six years away from the sport, I have more perspective now,” she said. “I think it allows us to compete in a different way than before and really gives us an advantage.
“Downhill skiing has a lot to do with accumulating knowledge. And I’ve been racing for a very long time, so I’ve obviously accumulated a lot of knowledge.”
Vonn, whose comeback landed her on the cover of this week’s Time magazine, said she is in the best shape of her career. But to qualify for the Olympics, they must earn enough points on this winter’s World Cup circuit.
She said she probably would not have considered racing at the top level again if next February’s Olympics had not been scheduled for Cortina, where she has a record 12 World Cup wins. She also scored her first of 138 World Cup podiums in 2004 in Cortina.
“My goal was always to return to Cortina. Cortina is a very special place to me,” she said.
“I didn’t want to make that my goal because I didn’t know if I would even be able to compete, let alone qualify or finish the season. I told myself that if I trained more and felt better, this was an achievable goal. I could do this.”
Even if she couldn’t do it, that doesn’t take away from the fact that she tried. Or from what she has already accomplished.
“I feel at peace with the current state of my life,” she said. “I don’t have to ski race, but I love ski racing and I have nothing to prove. So even though my dad says this is the most pressure I’ve ever had in my life, I don’t feel too much pressure.”
