At 40 years old, Lindsey Vonn capped off her return to competitive skiing with an impressive second-place finish in a World Cup super-G race on Sunday, trailing only Swiss star Lara Gut-Behrami.
Racing on the steep and technical Challenger course at the World Cup finals in Sun Valley, Idaho, Vonn rediscovered her signature speed. After crossing the finish line, she pumped her ski poles in celebration as the crowd erupted. “It’s the last race of the season, so I just went for it. This is the level I know I can ski at, and I know I can do even better,” she told NBC Sports.
This marked Vonn’s first World Cup podium since March 2018, when she placed third in a super-G event in Are, Sweden. Her comeback this season followed a partial knee replacement, a challenge she embraced with determination. “Call me naive, but I believe in the impossible,” she said when announcing her return.
Sunday’s result was the 138th World Cup podium of Vonn’s career in her 408th race. She is now just one start away from tying Austria’s Renate Goetschl for the most World Cup appearances by a female skier.
Looking ahead, Vonn has her sights set on representing Team USA at next year’s Winter Olympics before retiring for good. “People said I was too old, that I couldn’t do it anymore. I think I proved them all wrong,” said Vonn, a three-time Olympic medalist.
Gut-Behrami clocked a winning time of 1 minute, 12.35 seconds, finishing 1.29 seconds ahead of Vonn. Her victory secured the season-long super-G title, surpassing Italian racer Federica Brignone, who had led the standings before the final race. Brignone finished third on Sunday, just 1.33 seconds behind Gut-Behrami.
The final super-G rankings saw Gut-Behrami take the overall title, followed by Brignone in second and Italy’s Sofia Goggia in third. Brignone had already locked up the downhill title on Saturday after the race was canceled, along with securing the overall World Cup championship.
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