Lindsey Vonn Places 6th at First World Cup Race Since Returning to Competition: 'I Know I Can Be Faster'

Lindsey Vonn aims to return to the top of the competition.

Two months after announcing her decision to retire, the 40-year-old U.S. Olympian returned to the downhill World Cup slopes in St. Louis on Saturday, January 11. Anton in Austria, where she took sixth place.

Competing in the Audi FIS World Ski Cup was Vonn’s first in six years, and despite a great start where she topped out at 77 mph, she ended up finishing the race 0.58 seconds behind the winner, Italy’s Federica Brignone, according to the Associated Press.

Vonn eventually dropped to sixth place — prompting her to note that she “was a little bit happier with fifth place” — after several other competitors contested the slope, including Switzerland’s Malorie Blanc, 21, who finished 0.07 seconds behind Brignone, 34, during her World Cup debut, AP reported.

Lindsey Vonn competes in the women’s downhill race at the FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup on January 11, 2025.

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Lindsey Vonn celebrates her return to competition after coming out of retirement: ‘I’m officially back!’

Reflecting on her run, Vonn told Eurosport, according to the AP, “It was fun,” noting she believes she can still do better. “I made a few mistakes, though,” she said. “I know I can be faster.”

“I haven’t started outside the top 30 since I was probably 17,” she continued. “All things considered, it was a great start.”

The skier also said she felt “more confident and comfortable” on the downhill than in the “super-G”, in which she is scheduled to compete on Sunday, January 12.

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This is Vonn’s second race since she revealed in an interview with The New York Times in November that he is returning to competitive skiing after a successful right knee endoprosthesis operation. At the time, she stated that her return to the sport was “unbelievable and definitely not planned”.

“I had a smile so big it was coming through the back of my helmet,” she said. “I’m trying not to get too far ahead of myself because I have a lot of hoops to jump through. Obviously, I wouldn’t be doing this if I wasn’t hoping to race. I have aspirations. I like to go fast. How fast can I go? I don’t know.”

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Lindsey Vonn.

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In December, Vonn celebrated her first competition on the slopes, writing on Instagram: “It’s been 2,162 days since my last World Cup race (almost 6 years!) but yesterday I was back in the starting gate competing again.”

On December 21, she participated in the Super G race in the Swiss St. Moritz and finished in 14th place. The athlete called her appearance at the event “the perfect place to start,” teasing, “This is just the beginning.”

During her award-winning career, Vonn won four overall World Cup titles, eight World Cup season titles, gold and bronze medals at the 2010 Winter Olympics, and another bronze medal at the 2018 Olympics.

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Source: HIS Education