Fans Are Ecstatic Over Lindsey Vonn’s Official Return to the U.S. Ski Team

The icon has officially donned the blue uniform again—and is back to training with the team.

Lindsey Vonn / Jose Breton/Getty Images

Last week—after weeks of fan speculation—Lindsey Vonn officially announced her return to professional skiing. She had been teasing the news for weeks, and fans were catching on. But, in an Instagram post and a subsequent New York Times interview, the 40-year-old made the news official.

After suffering years of injuries to her right knee, Vonn retired from professional athletics in 2019. In the years since, she has undergone several surgeries to repair the damage, culminating in a right knee replacement in the spring of this year. She was looking to mitigate pain and discomfort and regain greater mobility—she wasn’t in search of a return to professional skiing. But that’s what she got.

Following the surgery and the subsequent rehab process, the Minnesota native returned to the slopes to test out her new knee. To her surprise, she felt no pain at all. And slowly her goals started to shift—and, in time, she started to cultivate ambitions to make a comeback.

Months later, she has yet again donned the U.S. Ski Team uniform and returned to the Copper Mountain slopes. Undoubtedly, she’s looking forward to discovering what the future holds. But for now, she’s just enjoying the process. “Happy to be back with the team,” she wrote in the caption of her latest comeback post on Instagram. “Missed you ladies!”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by L I N D S E Y • V O N N (@lindseyvonn)

She’s not the only one looking to the future, either. Her followers and fans, who have been outspoken in their support following the news, took to the comments of her post to share their excitement.

“So exciting!” former professional tennis icon Billie Jean King remarked. “Can't wait to see what you'll accomplish next.”

“so unreal 🔥👏,” SI Swimsuit’s very own Brenna Huckaby applauded the news.

“And we missed you!” one fan wrote. “The greatest comeback in the history of sports,” another added.

Vonn has made it clear that her return comes with high ambitions. She has dreams of returning to World Cup races. After all, “I wouldn’t be back on the U.S. ski team if I didn’t have intentions,” she told the New York Times. But her main goal is “to enjoy this.” At the end of the day, she has nothing to prove, and she knows it. “I’m not chasing anything; I’m not trying to prove anything to anyone,” she said.”

It remains to be seen where her return takes her. But one thing is clear: she has a large following backing her all the way.