Lindsey Vonn’s return was a bit bitter due to her knee injury, but there is no doubt that her insistence on competing was impressive.
Many would not want to give up their comfortable retirement years to return to work. But Vonn is a born champion. She wanted to finish on her own terms. In 2019, the sovereign of alpine skiing will say goodbye to the snow with tears and glory.
The focus should not be on Lindsey Vonn’s sixth-place finish in St. Anton, Austria, but on her return to downhill skiing after a 14th-place finish in the Super G last season. With a record 43 downhill wins among her 82 World Cup victories, she is one of the best in the discipline. Her performance, while not a victory, is a testament to her skill and determination.
In the end, after a long layoff and at the age of 40, Lindsey was only 0.58 seconds behind the first place finisher, which says a lot about how brutal her show was in Austria.
Lindsey is very confident in her abilities
In a flash interview with Eurosport after the race, Vonn showed her usual confidence:
“That was fun… I still made a couple of mistakes; I know I can be faster”, they said.
The bad news ate away at Lindsey Vonnas Federica Brignone, a 34-year-old Italian, won her first downhill and broke Vonn’s record. She is now the oldest woman to win a World Cup downhill and giant slalom, and with 30 victories, she is the best Italian skier in history.
I haven’t started outside the top 30 since I was probably 17 years old. All things considered, it was a great start.”, commented Lindsey, who is looking forward to coming back and having a better night.
Return to the top level
Lindsey Vonn is very clear, she wants to get back to the top, that is her goal.
“I’m working hard for a reason. I’ve had a couple of sessions at 3:45 in the morning. There’s nothing I would wake up early for except ski racing.”
I’m loving every single second, but I’m not out here just for fun,” she said in an interview with AP.
We’ll see how she handles the criticism for her insistence to keep competing, Lindsey will keep trying and let’s hope she gets the long awaited victory, she really needs it.