The skiing legend Lindsey Vonn is preparing to compete in the World Cup for the first time in nearly six years this weekend. Indeed, she will be taking part in the super-G races in St. Moritz on Saturday and Sunday.
Ahead of this, Vonn is firing back at naysayers who are saying that at 40 years of age, she’s too old to launch this kind of comeback.
Vonn Sounds Off
Part of the reason? She doesn’t sound particularly healthy! At issue is a bum knee she had to get partially replaced.
“I’ve been thinking about getting a replacement for several years. I did a lot of research….I know people think that I’m insane, but I am actually kind of smart….I have done a few operations, so I know a few doctors….I talked to a lot of them,” Vonn told ESPN. “I talked to [extreme skier] Chris Davenport, who also had a partial knee replacement, and he skis like 150 days a year. … So that gave me a lot of confidence.”
40 years old is hard enough. A bum knee in the mix could be downright dangerous. Nevertheless, if you know Lindsey Vonn, you know that it’s just one more mogul to conquer.
Vonn went on to say that she got most of her medical advice from Tom Hackett, an orthopedic surgeon at The Steadman Clinic in Vail, Colorado. He’s affiliated with the U.S. Ski Team, and he operated on her knees and arm.
“He’s sort of been my guide. He helped me interview doctors from around the world to make sure that they were in it for the right reasons,” Vonn explained. “A lot of doctors said they could fix me and make me better. But generally when you say that right off the bat, it’s probably not true.”
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Vonn’s Surgery
Thanks to Hackett, Vonn was able to find Martin Roche, a South Florida-based orthopedist specializing in complex knee disorders. Roche performed a robot-assisted replacement on Vonn back in April. He cut off part of the bone in Vonn’s knee and replaced it with two titanium pieces.
“Once you commit to something, you got to commit,” Vonn said. “Once they’re cutting you open, that is what it is. So I did all the front-end research, and now I’m reaping the rewards on the back end.”
Sadly, Vonn hasn’t been given the warmest reception from her fellow skiers as she mounts this comeback.
“Vonn should see a psychologist. Does she want to kill herself?” questioned two-time Olympic champion Michaela Dorfmeister. Austrian downhill great Franz Klammer agreed, saying “She’s gone completely mad.”
Four-time overall World Cup champion Pirmin Zurbriggen got in on the action as well. He claimed that “there is a risk that Vonn will tear her artificial knee to pieces. And in such a way that she will never be able to do any sport properly for the rest of her life.”
“I have the feeling that Vonn hasn’t recognized the meaning and purpose of her other life in recent years,” Zurbriggen continued. “She has probably suffered from no longer being a celebrated champion.”
Sheesh. That seems a little presumptuous.
That last comment prompted Vonn to hit back on social media.
“You know, I’m getting pretty tired of people predicting negative things about my future,” she wrote on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. “It’s enough now. Bernard, Sonja and now Primin… is there a reason all former Swiss skiers think this way? Did they all become doctors and I missed it, because they talk like they know more than the best doctors in the world.”
‘I’m Not The First Person To Do It’
While no woman older than 34 has ever won the World Cup, multiple men have done so over 40.
“I’m not the first person to do it; I’m just maybe the first woman to do it in ski racing,” Vonn explained. “Simone Biles is the perfect example of what can be done at an older age — and she’s not even old.”
This was a reference to the American gymnast who became the oldest woman to win the all-around Olympic title in nearly 75 years at the Paris Games earlier this year at 27 years of age.
Vonn, of course, is 13 years older than that.
Related: Simone Biles’ Latest Comments Hint At Which Way She’s Leaning About an Olympic Return In 2028
“It’s just outside of the confines of what we believe is the right age for the sport,” Vonn concluded. “I don’t think I’m reinventing the wheel. I’m just doing what I feel is right for me but at the same time continuing on what other women have done before me.”
Be sure to tune in this weekend to see how Vonn does. Here’s hoping she proves her naysayers wrong and brings home the World Cup!
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