{"id":19533,"date":"2026-02-06T01:35:57","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T01:35:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/?p=19533"},"modified":"2026-02-06T01:36:00","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T01:36:00","slug":"shes-gone-completely-mad-lindsey-vonns-improbable-comeback-is-poised-to-ignite-italy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/?p=19533","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;She&#8217;s gone completely mad&#8217;: Lindsey Vonn&#8217;s improbable comeback is poised to ignite Italy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>MILAN \u2014 <em>She didn\u2019t have to do this.<\/em> Lindsey Vonn was already one of the most decorated athletes alive, a World Cup winner dozens of times over, famous worldwide and an inspiration to girls, women, skiers in the millions.<\/p>\n<p><em>She didn\u2019t have to do this. <\/em>Vonn spent decades and four Olympics fighting through waves of injuries that would have ended so many other careers. She had nothing left to prove to anyone.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p><em>She didn\u2019t have to do this.<\/em> After retiring from skiing, Vonn reinvented herself, becoming an entrepreneur, hosting a reality TV show, writing a memoir, engineering charitable endeavors and investing time and money in worlds far removed from ski slopes. She transformed herself from a skier into an institution.<\/p>\n<p><em>She didn\u2019t have to do this. <\/em>Un-retiring always brings the risk \u2014 for many, the certainty \u2014 that a legend should have stayed retired. Michael Jordan, Brett Favre, Willie Mays, virtually every boxer and MMA fighter who came back for one more turn in the spotlight \u2026 all returned diminished, a sad, faded reflection of their past glory.<\/p>\n<p><em>She didn\u2019t have to do this<\/em>. After suffering a catastrophic wreck in Switzerland just one week before the Opening Ceremony, <a rel=\"\" class=\"link  yahoo-link\" href=\"https:\/\/sports.yahoo.com\/olympics\/article\/lindsey-vonn-will-compete-in-olympics-despite-torn-acl-sustained-in-fall-145802888.html\" data-i13n=\"cpos:1;pos:1\" data-ylk=\"slk:a wreck that ruptured her ACL;cpos:1;pos:1;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;outcm:mb_qualified_link;_E:mb_qualified_link;ct:story;\">a wreck that ruptured her ACL<\/a>, she could have accepted her heartbreaking fate and bowed out of the competition.<\/p>\n<p>And yet here she is, not just a member of the U.S. Olympic ski team once again, but still winning races; not just sustaining injuries, but rallying back from them over and over. This month, Lindsey Vonn will once again don the stars and stripes, once again return to her beloved Cortina, and add an entire new chapter to a career that everyone \u2014 including her \u2014 believed was done years ago.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI&#8217;ve built a great life outside of skiing, but there will never be anything like skiing,\u201d Vonn, 41, said in October. \u201cI fully understand that, and I&#8217;m comfortable with that. But I&#8217;m definitely going to enjoy this last bit of adrenaline, because I won&#8217;t get it back.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"content-figure\">\n<div class=\"content-image\"><button aria-label=\"View larger image\" class=\"lightbox-btn\" data-ylk=\"elm:expand;itc:1;sec:image-lightbox;slk:lightbox-open;\"><span class=\"lightbox-expand\"><\/span><\/button><dialog aria-label=\"Image Lightbox\" class=\"lightbox-overlay\" \/><\/div><figcaption class=\"fig-caption\">(Amy Monks\/Yahoo Sports illustration)<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2 class=\"heading\" data-jump-link-target=\"\" id=\"two-decades-of-olympic-achievement\"><strong>Two decades of Olympic achievement<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>When she clicks into her skis this month in Cortina d\u2019Ampezzo, Vonn will compete in her fifth Olympics, and her first since 2018. It\u2019s a stunning achievement, but perfectly in line with the arc of Vonn\u2019s life. Born in Minnesota in 1984, she declared as a 9-year-old that she wanted to ski in the Winter Olympics \u2026 and eight years later, as a member of Team USA in 2002, she did exactly that.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>She didn\u2019t medal in those Games, nor in 2006, where she crashed so severely in training that she had to be airlifted off the course. But in 2010, she claimed gold in downhill, the first U.S. woman ever to do so, and changed the course of the rest of her life. A 2013 ACL injury cost her a shot at the Sochi Games in 2014. At what she believed was her final Olympics, in 2018, she won a bronze in downhill and formally ceded the Olympic stage to younger skiers like Mikaela Shiffrin.<\/p>\n<p>As she continued to pile up podiums around the Olympics, Vonn set her sights on Ingemar Stenmark\u2019s record of 86 World Cup wins. She came close, very close, but stalled out in 2019 at 82 wins, decades\u2019 worth of concussions, surgeries, fractures and assorted injuries finally catching up with her.<\/p>\n<p>And for everyone \u2014 herself included \u2014 that seemed to be the end of Vonn\u2019s story on skis. Shiffrin eventually caught and passed both Vonn and Stenmark in World Cup victories. The skiing world proceeded onward through the lockdown Olympics in Beijing. Vonn\u2019s career exploits faded farther and farther into the distance.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"heading\" data-jump-link-target=\"\" id=\"the-two-factors-that-brought-vonn-back\"><strong>The two factors that brought Vonn back<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>But even though she was done with skiing, skiing wasn\u2019t quite done with her. The injuries from decades on the slopes dogged her daily life. She couldn\u2019t hike, walk or even stand without pain. So in April 2024, Vonn underwent a partial knee replacement that completely upended her story \u2014 in the best possible way. She began hiking, working out, even skiing without pain.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI really thought when I retired in 2019, that was it,\u201d Vonn said. \u201cI had built an amazing life, I was really\u00a0 happy. But then after the replacement, I knew things were really different. My body felt so good, and I just kind of kept pushing myself further and further to see what I was capable of, and racing seemed like the logical next step.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Vonn announced that she would begin racing again in November 2024. She faced skepticism, disbelief, even scorn; two-time Olympic gold medalist Michaela Dorfmeister told Austrian TV that Vonn &#8220;should see a psychologist,&#8221; and wondered, &#8220;Does she want to kill herself?&#8221; Another Olympic gold winner, Franz Klammer, declared, \u201cShe&#8217;s gone completely mad.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps. Perhaps not. At her first race back, at Copper Mountain in Colorado, Vonn finished 24th in a field of 45. Her finishes kept climbing, and last December, she finally won her 83rd World Cup race, finishing first in the downhill in St. Moritz. She added No. 84 just a few weeks ago, further solidifying the legitimacy of her return.<\/p>\n<p>Which brings us to Cortina d\u2019Ampezzo, the second motivation \u2014 along with the knee surgery \u2014 behind Vonn\u2019s return. Vonn achieved her first World Cup podium at Cortina, as well as her 63rd victory, the one that gave her more downhill titles than any woman, ever. In all, she\u2019s won 12 World Cup events at Cortina, and feels as comfortable there as anywhere else on earth.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don&#8217;t think I would have tried this comeback if the Olympics weren&#8217;t in Cortina,\u201d Vonn said. \u201cIf it had been anywhere else, I would probably say it&#8217;s not worth it. But for me, there&#8217;s something special about Cortina that always pulls me back, and it&#8217;s pulled me back one last time.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"content-figure\">\n<div class=\"content-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"First-placed US Lindsey Vonn celebrates on the podium with sparkling wine after competing in the women's downhill race during the FIS Alpine Ski World Cup 2025-2026, in St Moritz, south-eastern Switzerland on December 12, 2025. (Photo by Fabrice COFFRINI \/ AFP via Getty Images)\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"960\" height=\"640\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"standard-img\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/e7b74153-9be0-4128-981b-e84ad6c64d5a.jpeg\" \/><button aria-label=\"View larger image\" class=\"lightbox-btn\" data-ylk=\"elm:expand;itc:1;sec:image-lightbox;slk:lightbox-open;\"><span class=\"lightbox-expand\"><\/span><\/button><dialog aria-label=\"Image Lightbox\" class=\"lightbox-overlay\" \/><\/div><figcaption class=\"fig-caption\">\n<div style=\"max-height:none;overflow:visible\">\n<p>Lindsey Vonn celebrates after winning the downhill at St. Moritz, the 83rd World Cup victory of her career. (Photo by Fabrice COFFRINI \/ AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"caption-credit\"> (FABRICE COFFRINI via Getty Images)<\/span><\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2 class=\"heading\" data-jump-link-target=\"\" id=\"would-lindsey-vonn-make-the-olympic-team\"><strong>Would Lindsey Vonn make the Olympic team?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Once Vonn started racking up podiums around the world, there was little doubt she\u2019d make Team USA. U.S. Ski &amp; Snowboard regulations offer plenty of latitude for subjectivity in the selection process, with a \u201cdiscretionary\u201d selection that can go to a \u201cmedal capable athlete\u201d \u2014 which by U.S. Ski\u2019s definition is any athlete achieving Top 30 finishes in World Cup events.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>The moment arrived two days before Christmas, when U.S. Ski made the expected but still impressive announcement: Vonn would be going to Milan-Cortina as a member of Team USA.<\/p>\n<section class=\"consent\" \/>\n<p>\u201cI am honored to be able to represent my country one more time, in my 5th and final Olympics!\u201d Vonn wrote. \u201cAlthough I can\u2019t guarantee any outcomes, I can guarantee that I will give my absolute best every time l kick out of the starting gate. No matter how these games end up, I feel like I\u2019ve already won.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Reckoning with the physical and societal implications of age drives Vonn&#8217;s comeback. Few examples exist of female athletes competing long after their peers have retired. Serena Williams, Dara Torres, even Simone Biles all extended their careers past the traditional breaking point, but they\u2019re the outliers. Vonn leans into her age, shrugging off the \u201cgrandma\u201d comments from competitors and embracing the wisdom that she\u2019s gained along the way.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI bring up age because women don&#8217;t normally compete at my age, and I think that needs to change,\u201d she said. \u201cI think the perception of women competing older should change. Tom Brady&#8217;s done it. Lewis Hamilton, LeBron James, all of those athletes are and were competing in their 40s. It&#8217;s just not a common thing to see [from] women.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The most fascinating element of Vonn\u2019s comeback is that this isn\u2019t some one-last-run tour, it\u2019s a legitimate Olympic-level tour de force. In her eight races so far this season, Vonn has finished on the podium seven times, going ski-to-ski with competitors nearly two decades younger than her. If she manages to claim another Olympic medal, she\u2019d top by eight years the previous record for the oldest alpine Olympic medalist, a record currently held by \u2026 Lindsey Vonn.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI like risk. I like going fast. I like pushing myself to the limit. I love being on the mountain,\u201d Vonn said earlier this week in announcing her injury. \u201cIt&#8217;s an amazing feeling, and one I know I will never have again, because I&#8217;ve been retired, and I know I&#8217;m lucky that I even get this chance one more time. And every time I stand in the starting gate, I realize I&#8217;m lucky to be able to do something I love so much, and I don&#8217;t take that for granted.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>She has to do this.<\/em> And she will, starting this week.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/sports.yahoo.com\/olympics\/article\/shes-gone-completely-mad-lindsey-vonns-improbable-comeback-is-poised-to-ignite-italy-092252990.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>MILAN \u2014 She didn\u2019t have to do this. Lindsey Vonn was already one of the most decorated athletes alive, a World Cup winner dozens of times over, famous worldwide and an inspiration to girls, women, skiers in the millions. She didn\u2019t have to do this. Vonn spent decades and four Olympics fighting through waves of &#8230; <a title=\"&#8216;She&#8217;s gone completely mad&#8217;: Lindsey Vonn&#8217;s improbable comeback is poised to ignite Italy\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/?p=19533\" aria-label=\"Read more about &#8216;She&#8217;s gone completely mad&#8217;: Lindsey Vonn&#8217;s improbable comeback is poised to ignite Italy\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19534,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19533","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Shes-gone-completely-mad-Lindsey-Vonns-improbable-comeback-is-poised.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19533","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19533"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19533\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19535,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19533\/revisions\/19535"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/19534"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19533"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19533"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19533"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}