Lindsey Vonn makes competitive alpine skiing return in Copper Mountain downhill: "This is only the beginning"
The 40-year-old Olympic champion looked strong at Copper Mountain, marking her first races in nearly six years following partial knee replacement surgery earlier this year.
Alpine Skiing
Lindsey Vonn is back.
The alpine skiing legend made her return to the competitive slopes on Saturday (7 December) morning at the FIS Fall Festival at Copper Mountain, Colorado, competing in two downhill runs and finishing 24th and 27th, respectively, out of 45 skiers.
Vonn's 1:07.23 in the first competitive race was her fasest effort of the day, going 1:07.52 in the second. (She had clocked a 1:07.33 in training.)
Austria's Mirjam Puchner was the fastest skier of the day, winning the first race at 1:05.79. Her temmate Cornelia Huetter took the second race with a 1:05.99.
"Today was a solid start and I had a blast being in start with my teammates again!" Vonn wrote on the social media platform X. "While I’m sure people will speculate and say I’m not in top form because of the results, I disagree. This was training for me.
She continued: "I’m still testing equipment and getting back in the groove. This is only the beginning and the way I’m skiing is more important than the times at this point."
Vonn, who announced her comeback last month, is also scheduled to compete in the Super-G on Sunday, aiming to improve her FIS rankings to secure a wild card for the World Cup.
Copper Mountain is a lower-level FIS stop. Vonn is looking to accrue points to lower her world ranking and qualify for the World Cup.
"That was my only goal," she added on X, referring to that point grab. "And I succeeded."
"Now I have the FIS points to race World Cup... Thanks to everyone who helped put on the races! Let’s do it again tomorrow!"
Many World Cup stars used the competition in Copper Mountain to get valuable preparation time in ahead of next week's World Cup races in Beaver Creek, Colorado.
Lindsey Vonn competes for the first time in nearly six years
"I’m far ahead of where I thought I could be at this stage," Vonn wrote on another social media post, noting that she had only been training pointedly since October.
The 40-year-old shaved one tenth off her training time in the first race of the day, but the field overall was much faster, with Puchner improving her time by nearly a full second. Vonn had been 15th in training.
Vonn's slowest effort of the day was in her third and final trip down the course, but the comeback wasn't about placement. She can be seen here finishing her first competitive run on the Copper Mountain course.
The American last competed nearly six years ago, in February 2019, when she claimed bronze in the downhill at the World Championships in Åre, Sweden.
Vonn is the Olympic downhill champion from Vancouver 2010, and has two more Olympic medals to her name. She has successfully recovered from partial knee replacement surgery earlier this year and got back to training over the past couple of months.
"My goal is to enjoy this, and hopefully that road takes me to World Cup races," Vonn told the New York Times when he comeback was announced.
"I wouldn’t be back on the U.S. ski team if I didn’t have intentions."