Lindsey Vonn wasn’t about to risk everything in her first World Cup race back after more than five years of retirement.
Not with her history of crashes and… injuries.
Not with her new titanium knee.
Not at the age of 40.
Vonn took a low-risk approach and finished 14th in a super-G on Saturday, 1.18 seconds ahead of Austrian winner Cornelia Huetter.
“This was the perfect start,” Vonn said. “Today is just the first step and I’m not looking for more. Today I really had to get to the finish line. I wanted to get a solid result. And that’s exactly what I did.
“There’s definitely a lot I still have left to give,” Vonn added. “Today wasn’t the day to do anything special.”
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But when Vonn came down, the crowd of Swiss fans waving in anticipation fell silent and all the other top skiers watched her run on a perfectly clear day in the Alps.
“It’s just fantastic to have her back on the world stage,” said Sophie Goldschmidt, president and CEO of US Ski and Snowboard. “Just the attention she brings to the sport and the role model she is – it’s a big day.
“Moments like this transcend beyond just sports. We see it with Mikaela (Shiffrin) and what she’s done recently, which is also just superhuman, setting all those records.”
Vonn lost time early in her run, but nearly matched the top finishers in the middle and lower portions of the Corviglia course.
When she reached the finish line and saw her time, Vonn smiled widely and waved to the crowd.
“I didn’t risk anything with the line. I was a bit conservative in some sections, but overall I skied very well. Now my top section just needs to be a bit faster and I will be in very good shape,” said Vonn , who plans to race another super-G in St. Moritz on Sunday.
Vonn finished less than a second off the podium, which also featured Olympic champion Lara Gut-Behrami in second place, 0.18 behind Huetter, and Sofia Goggia in third, 0.33 back.
“I’m almost there,” Vonn said. “I’m just not quite there yet.”
Vonn started No. 31 under a new wild card rule for former champions. But that still meant we had to go after all the current top skiers had raced.
“The course was a little bumpy when I went and so I was a little more conservative with my line in some sections,” she said. “But I was very fast on some parts.”
Vonn had to pause her career in 2019 due to a series of crashes and injuries, but in April she underwent knee replacement surgery and had two titanium pieces inserted into her right knee. Her knee feels better than it has in years, so she decided to come back.
“The last years of my career were so much different than now,” Vonn said. “I’m skiing without thinking about my knee, which I really haven’t done since I first tore my ACL in 2013. So it’s been a long time since I felt this good and I’m a little older, but Honestly, I’m a lot stronger than I ever was.”
Eight-time World Cup champion Marcel Hirscher also took advantage of the wildcard rule and returned this season after a five-year absence. But then Hirscher tore his left ACL while training for the giant slalom and announced earlier this month that his comeback season was over.
Vonn left the tour with 82 World Cup victories – the record for a woman at the time and within reach of Swedish star Ingemar Stenmark’s then Alpine mark of 86. Vonn’s women’s record was eclipsed last year by Shiffrin, who now has an outright record of 99 wins.
Shiffrin, who shares the record of five victories at St. Moritz with Vonn, will not race this weekend as she recovers from abdominal surgery to clean up a stab wound she suffered in a crash last month.
Vonn is trying to enter uncharted territory when it comes to later-life success in women’s skiing.
The oldest woman to win a World Cup race was Federica Brignone, the Italian who won the giant slalom in Sölden, Austria, in October at the age of 34 to start this season.
“It’s super impressive,” said Jacqueline Wiles, Vonn’s American teammate, noting that Vonn didn’t have as much preseason preparation as other skiers. “If anyone could do it, she could do it. The more comfortable she gets and gets back up to speed, she’ll be right there.”
So will Vonn attack harder on Sunday?
“One step at a time,” Vonn said. “Patience.”
Vonn was born in St. Paul in 1984, but started skiing at Buck Hill in Burnsville. In 2019 she was honored with a new tow rope on the ski hill called “Kildow’s Climb.” Kildow is her maiden name.
