Skier Lindsey Vonn Shatters Age Barriers With Historic World Cup Comeback

In February 2019, Lindsey Vonn announced her retirement from ski racing. This upset countless sports enthusiasts; after all, she was one of the most decorated skiers in the world. Six years later, the American made a stunning comeback, thrilling her admirers once again and making history at the Audi FIS Ski World Cup in Idaho, USA. On March 24, the 40-year-old clinched a silver medal in the Super-G race, becoming the oldest female skier to make a podium finish in the competition. 

"It’s been a rough season of people saying that I can’t, that I’m too old, that I’m not good enough anymore. I think I proved everyone wrong," Vonn remarked, in a post-race interview with NBC Sports. Vonn has maintained her status as one of the most decorated skiers in the world, with 82 World Cup wins and 138 podium finishes.

Lindsey Vonn: Most decorated skier

Minnesota-born Lindsey Vonn posted a photo of her kissing her silver medal as tears flowed down her face. She captioned the post, "This means so much to me." Speaking to the media, she said that this win was her way of proving naysayers wrong. She also revealed that she faced some challenges due to her physical health.

"It was (expletive) hard. This year has just been really up and down, and it’s been hard to stay positive sometimes, especially because people are telling me that I should just quit — again," Vonn told NBC Sports. “So it wasn’t about how I was physically this year. It was just I couldn’t put all the pieces together in one run."

Vonn revealed that her next goal is to make it to her fifth Olympic team in 2026. "Age is just a number," she said expressing enthusiasm for tournaments ahead. The three-time Olympic champ won the 'downhill' gold at the Winter Games in Vancouver in 2010, the same year she also clinched a bronze medal in the Super-G. 

Lindsey Vonn asserted, "I’m passionate about what I do; I love skiing. That’s why I’m here. When you love something, and you work hard at something, it feels really good when you’re finally rewarded. It was a joy. It was a relief. It was satisfaction in the fact that this adventure that I set myself on is worth something.”

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