In 2015, Lindsey Vonn achieved the most World Cup wins among women, her 63 surpassing Annemarie Moser-Pröll of Austria, who previously held the title for 35 years. By 2018, Vonn had the second-most World Cup wins of both men and women at 82 titles. The only person to have a higher count at the time was Ingemar Stenmark of Sweden, who retired in 1989 with 86 wins.
Vonn is not only an amazing athlete, but a tough competitor who fought through more injuries and surgeries than most have to, and she continues to be an inspiration to young girls in ski racing and beyond.
At least nine surgeries disrupted Vonn’s nearly 15-year World Cup skiing career. However, she continued to rebound from these setbacks stronger than when she left. She never gave up and showed her fans her constant determination as an athlete and person.
Vonn eventually retired in 2019 at age 34, setting up Mikaela Shiffrin to rise in the ski-racing ranks, soon becoming one of the all-time greats. In January 2023, Shiffrin landed her 82nd victory, eventually reaching 87 world cup wins that same year — the most of any ski racer ever, surpassing Stenmark’s count set 34 years earlier.
Following media whispers in early 2024 of the now-40-year-old Vonn coming out of retirement, she officially announced in November of that year she would return to the World Cup circuit after having a partial knee replacement in April.
To return to that level of competition, a skier must go through a series of lower-level races to gain the required amount of International Ski and Snowboard Federation points. Vonn would need 80 points to boost her ranking and prove her capability to compete in the highest circuit again.
The month after her announced return, Vonn participated in a pair of downhill FIS races at Colorado’s Copper Mountain, placing 24th in the first race and 27th in the second.
Despite looking disappointed with these results and not engaging with the media that day, she later shared on Instagram she gained the required points needed to reenter the World Cup circuit, teeing up the potential for an epic return.
In preparation for her post-retirement World Cup debut, Vonn foreran the Birds of Prey course at Beaver Creek, Colorado with stunning quality and audible backing from the crowd.
Her first proper race back was a super-G in St. Moritz, Switzerland on Saturday, Dec. 21. Fans in attendance watched with anticipation as she approached the start gate for the first time in almost six years.
Vonn put down a great run, finishing 14th and just 1.18 seconds behind the leader. She later shared on social media her excitement with the finish and how great she felt to be back.
This month, Vonn competed in two more races in St. Anton, Austria.
In the inaugural downhill race of her return, Vonn skied into a remarkable 6th place as the leading American in the field. In the super-G the following day she trailed leader Laura Macuga by just 1.24 seconds, continuing her positive streak for an impressive 4th place finish.
Over the weekend at the Garmisch-Partenkirchen World Cup in Germany, a course where she has previously won nine times during her career, Vonn failed to finish her downhill race on Saturday but dusted herself off to finish 13th in her super-G race the following day.
Early ups and downs can be expected in a post-retirement comeback like Vonn’s. Though the weekend didn’t go as she would have liked, she remained in high spirits after a solid result with plenty of skiing ahead of her and sights on the Olympics in 2026 before she plans on officially wrapping up her career.
Vonn, always an inspiration to young female athletes, is even more so now through her immense resilience and commitment even after years of injury and a half-decade retirement. It will be worth monitoring how she carries herself through the rest of the season both for herself and for those who look up to her.
