Lindsey Vonn Announces Return to World Cup Circuit in St. Moritz

Later this month, the pro athlete will race in her first major competition since Feb. 2019.

Lindsey Vonn / Matthew Stockman/Getty Images

She’s back. For weeks, we’ve known that Lindsey Vonn is plotting a return to competitive skiing. Six years into her retirement, the 40-year-old has decided that she’s not done with her sport after all. After undergoing various surgeries to rehabilitate and repair her knee—including a total knee replacement, too—Vonn’s physical well-being is finally synced with her ambitions yet again.

The all-time great is slow-walking the comeback. With countless injuries and surgeries to her name, Vonn doesn’t want to risk another mishap. Plus, she’s already proven herself. This time around, “I’m not chasing anything; I’m not trying to prove anything to anyone,” she explained in an interview with The New York Times last month. “With what I’ve done in my career, I’m thankful I can be in this position. I don’t have any pressure. It’s just me and the mountain like it was in the beginning.”

In other words, she’s in no rush to make a statement on the slopes. She’s done that time and time again, after all. But that’s not to say she’s not gearing up for her big comeback. En route to her World Cup return, Vonn competed in the FIS Fall Festival at Copper Mountain, Colo., earning enough points to become World Cup eligible.

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She didn’t earn the points in time to compete in the World Cup race in Beaver Creek, Colo. this coming weekend, but she won’t be kept from the circuit for long. On Dec. 13, Red Bull, one of Vonn’s longtime sponsors, announced on Instagram that she would make her return to the circuit in St. Moritz on Dec. 21 and 22.

“So I have some news, my body is finally put back together. I hear St. Moritz is nice this time of year,” she said in the clip. “One thing I realize is life is really short and if you have an opportunity you have to take it. There’s nothing I love more than ski racing.”

The message accompanied impressive clips from Vonn’s monumental career, which included a bronze medal finish in downhill at the 2017 World Cup race in St. Moritz. This year, she will compete in two super-G races over the course of the weekend, looking for her first major podium finish since Feb. 2019—her last professional race before retiring.

“She’s back,” Red Bull wrote in the caption of the announcement. We share the company’s excitement for her return—and can’t wait to watch it unfold in Switzerland.