Lindsey Vonn, 41, returned to competition after years off and beat everyone with a bang

The plunge the world cup olympic season started with quite a bang on the slopes of St. Moritz.

American legend of the sport Lindsey Vonn beat almost everyone with a stunner as he won the vault by a commanding 0.98 seconds over second-placed Austria to Magdalena Egger.

At the same time, Vonn, 41, became the oldest Alpine Skiing World Cup competition winner of all time. Vonn, who hails from Minnesota, USA, showed she is serious about competing for medals when the Winter Olympics are contested in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo in February.

After her victory in St. Moritz, Vonn fanned wildly. There seemed to be much more than just a single competition victory in the clenched fists and raucous screams.

Vonn dropped the news that shook the sports world at the end of last year.

Rumors began to swirl in October 2024, when an alpine ski coach Sepp Brunner said he saw Vonn training for a possible comeback.

The rumors soon turned out to be true. Vonn had decided to return to the top of the skiing world and the slopes of the World Cup after a six-year hiatus from competition.

The reception of the news was even overwhelming.

“He should go to a psychologist. Does he want to kill himself?”, wondered the two-time Olympic champion Michaela Dorfmeister.

“He’s messed up,” said the fall specialist Franz Bracket on an Austrian television channel.

The reactions are understandable in themselves. Before December 2024, Vonn had last competed in the spring of 2019, and she has suffered from numerous injuries in the past.

In his career, the American had reached, among other things, 82 World Cup victories, one Olympic gold and two world championships. However, the harsh fact is that Vonn’s injuries are comparable in number to even great achievements.

During her 19-year career, Vonn had suffered from torn ligaments, fractures and concussions, and she has undergone up to 12 major surgeries. A partial artificial joint has been operated on Vonn’s knee. A titanium knee has helped the superstar back to the slopes.

Age and the burden of injuries has forced the alpine star to observe the steep slopes from a new perspective. Nowadays, according to her own words, Vonn doesn’t just plunge headlong down the hill, but descends fearlessly but very calculatedly.

In the development of the new calculation technique, Vonn has been helped by a former Norwegian star of alpine skiing who joined her training team in the summer Aksel Lund Svindal. The five-time world champion and two-time Olympic champion helped Vonn to count in an optimal way after knee surgery.

Along with the changes in calculation technology and, among other things, switching to older model monos, one thing remains and remains. Vonn’s work ethic is still ruthless.

The superstar’s goal is to compete in the upcoming Winter Olympics in super giant slalom, downhill and team alpine combined.

In order to achieve her wild Olympic dream, last summer Vonn put on her work gloves perhaps more tightly than ever before.

The result was a huge transformation in the alpine star’s power levels as well as in the body in general.

“I wanted to get a lot stronger over the summer. I was leaner than I wanted to be last season. I was much lighter than in my best years.”

There is a lot of work to be done elsewhere than just on the slope. I work hard in everything, and not just in skiing.

Vonn has said that her weight increased by more than five kilograms during the summer. The result did not come easily.

“I put everything into it to be as physically ready as possible. I’ve never been so disciplined with my diet and summer training before.”

“The vast majority of every day I do something for my body. It’s tough, but I’m also training smarter than ever. Athletes today have so much equipment that didn’t exist before. I think that’s why we’re starting to see longer and longer sports careers.”

Vonn’s five-hour gym sessions, long cycling workouts and double workouts have made a big difference. The American has described that he is now physically in better shape than ever before.

Vain two things force Vonn to take breaks from her rigorous training routine: recovery and the media.

The latter of these has also become familiar to Vonn as an alternative career path, as over the years she has grown into a well-known fashion icon, whose face and model portfolios are heavily displayed in the public eye.

Vonn’s public image is perhaps also a partial reason why his surprising return was treated with suspicion in many places.

The world of sports has traditionally treated elite athletes with reservations, who enjoy a lot of attention in celebrity circles and on the covers of tabloids.

of Vancouver the 2010 Winter Olympics gold in the ski jump catapulted Vonn to a whole new level of fame.

He became one of the most popular faces in American elite sports and visited talk show programs and posed in swimsuit photoshoots. Vonn received sponsorship deals from giant brands such as Red Bull, Rolex and Under Armour.

Also public dating relationships with sports stars like Tiger Woodsiin and PK to Subban have accompanied Vonn’s reputation as a public figure more than as a pure athlete.

All the secondary media attention has been hugely beneficial in funding Vonn’s sports career.

“Alpine skiing is not a mainstream sport. My father told me early on that I had to become more than just a calculator.”

It’s true that the sport does not enjoy the same kind of attention as it does in, say, Austria or Switzerland. Therefore, the value of personal business relationships and sponsorship contracts increases to an unpredictable value.

“There is a lot of work to be done elsewhere than just on the slopes. I work hard in everything, and not just in skiing,” summarizes Vonn.

I have to thank all those who didn’t believe in me.

Olympic season at the beginning, it seems strongly that Vonn’s comprehensive contracting is bearing fruit again.

The Alpine legend’s comeback season was slow at times, although in the spring he managed to land on the podium once at the World Cup in Sun Valley, USA.

The speeches of the harshest critics were momentarily covered. However, after the historic tear in St. Moritz, it would seem crazy to suggest that Vonn would have messed up.

“I have to thank all those who didn’t believe in me. I’m surprised they haven’t figured this out yet: every time I’m talked down about, I only get stronger and more motivated,” Vonn said after her recent top finish.

Sources: The Athletic, Daily Mail, Ski, Time, TSN.