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“U.S. Ski & Snowboard is excited to announce that alpine great Lindsey Vonn will rejoin the Stifel U.S. Ski Team.
“Vonn’s decision to try and return to ski racing comes after careful consideration following successful knee surgery earlier this year. She has been able to get back to training and test her knee over the past couple of months and will be continuing her progression with the Stifel U.S. Ski Team in Colorado and beyond, representing a new exciting chapter in her already storied career.”
That’s from the breathless U.S. Ski & Snowboard announcement that Vonn, 40, will resume her competitive career, after retiring after continuing injury issues at the end of the 2018-19 season.
She said in the statement:
“Getting back to skiing without pain has been an incredible journey.
“I am looking forward to being back with the Stifel U.S. Ski Team and to continue to share my knowledge of the sport with these incredible women.”
Her return has been whispered for some time and the organizers of the season-opening Soelden Giant Slalom in Austria even said she was ready to race there at the end of October. She did not.
Vonn is a speed racer and one of the best ever. She owns 82 FIS World Cup wins, no. 3 all-time behind countrywoman Mikaela Shiffrin (97) and Sweden’s Ingemar Stenmark (86):
● 43: Downhill
● 28: Super-G
● 4: Giant Slalom
● 2: Slalom
● 5: Alpine Combined
Vonn ranks no. 1 all-time for Downhill wins – men or women – and no. 1 all-time in the Super-G; Shiffrin is no. 1 in Giant Slaloms (for women) and no. 1 overall in the Slalom.
Vonn won four seasonal World Cup titles in 2008-09-10-12 and 16 discipline titles in 18 seasons on tour. She won the Olympic Downhill in Vancouver in 2010, plus a Super-G bronze and a Downhill bronze in 2018. She also won the 2009 Worlds golds in the Downhill and Super-G, among a total of eight career Worlds medals.
How good will she be? That will depend on her fitness and on staying away from injuries; her comeback follows a successful partial knee replacement surgery in April. She was strong almost to the end of her career, winning four races – all Downhills – in the 2017-18 season, just one season before retiring.
The announcement made no mention of a schedule. The early-season World Cup races are Slaloms and Giant Slaloms; the first speed races are in the U.S.: a Downhill and Super-G at Beaver Creek, Colorado on 14-15 December.
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