Three-time Olympic medalist and four-time world champion skier Lindsey Vonn is returning to skiing, five years after retiring following the 2018 Winter Olympics. Her decision was announced Thursday in the New York Times.
Vonn spent time training in the snow in New Zealand and Europe this summer and fall, and will rejoin the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Team for training in Colorado starting this weekend.
So what changed for Vonn? Why did she decide to come back when she never intended to? It’s all about her right knee, which was severely damaged by accidents during years of skiing. She had undergone multiple surgeries throughout her career and had not been able to ski (or even walk) without pain for some time. That was the reason she retired, but the pain remained.
In an effort to finally live a pain-free daily life, Vonn decided to undergo knee replacement surgery earlier this year. The results were astonishing. A month after the surgery, Vonn told the Times she was able to straighten her right leg, something she hadn’t been able to do in a decade. Weeks later, she was doing leg-strengthening exercises she hadn’t been able to do in eight years.
When she finally got back on skis after surgery, her first casual runs went so well that she contacted her former coach. Just like that they went to New Zealand for training. Vonn started hitting the slopes like she hadn’t in years.
“I had gotten stronger by then and was able to really start pushing my knee, and it all went really well,” Vonn said. “I did fifteen runs. I haven’t done 15 runs in one day since I was 20.”
Will Vonn compete in the 2026 Olympics?
Nothing is certain for Vonn at this point. She’s going back to skiing and trying to keep her expectations low, but she’s Lindsey Vonn. She made her World Cup debut at the age of 16 and has never been shy about her love of racing. With a pair of skis on her feet and a pain-free right knee, she is unstoppable.
“I’m trying not to get too far ahead of myself because I have a lot of hoops to jump through,” Vonn said, via the New York Times. “Obviously I wouldn’t be doing this if I wasn’t hoping to race. I have ambitions. I like to go fast. How fast can I go? Don’t know.
“But I’m not going to put myself in a position where I can fail. My goal is to enjoy this, and hopefully that path will take me to World Cup races. I wouldn’t be on the U.S. Ski Team anymore if I didn’t have intentions.”
The Milan-Cortina 2026 Olympic Games are still fifteen months away. She wasn’t committing to anything at this point, but Vonn couldn’t hide how excited she was about the opportunity to return to the Olympics and take on one of her favorite courses.
“I have always enjoyed racing in Cortina and I have had a lot of success in Cortina,” she said. “I don’t know what the next few months and the next year and a half have in store for me. So I can’t say now whether it is a possibility.”
Vonn then paused and added, “But I think everyone knows how much I love Cortina.”
She may say “I don’t know” now, but Vonn knows not to bet against herself. Fifteen months from now, if she stands at the top of Cortina in skis and goggles, waiting for the buzzer to send her hurtling down another snowy hill, no one in the world should be surprised.
