Lindsey Vonn, 41, notches first World Cup downhill win since 2018

In her 125th career World Cup downhill appearance, 24 years after her debut and eight years since her last major victory, Lindsey Vonn scored a resounding victory in St. Moritz, Switzerland, on Friday.

It was as if Vonn was announcing to the world that not only was she back after a six-year retirement, but the 41-year-old American slopes legend was ready to reign alpine skiing once again at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics in February.

And it came just six weeks after she told the Times she “had nothing to prove.” In October, she compared her comeback to that of Michael Jordan, saying his return from retirement was “not part of his legacy at all.”

“I’ve already succeeded,” Vonn continued. “I’ve won before. I was on the podium. I have the record for the oldest World Cup medalist by seven years. I feel like this journey has been incredible.”

Vonn’s calculations are correct. She is certainly the oldest woman to win a World Cup race and has 83 victories in all World Cup disciplines. Italy’s Federica Brignone set a record a year ago by winning a World Cup race — she’s won 10, in fact — at the age of 34. Brignone is not racing this weekend due to injury.

Vonn is the only American woman to win an Olympic gold medal in downhill, having done so at the 2010 Vancouver Games. She also won bronze medals in the 2010 super-G and 2018 downhill.

Oh, and she’s the first World Cup winner to have titanium implants in her right knee.

Vonn finished in style on Friday, taking the lead 1.16 seconds ahead of Austrian Mirjam Puchner, despite trailing by 0.61 seconds after the first two time checks. Vonn’s final victory was 0.98 seconds as Austrian upstart Magdalena Egger took second place.

After a rocky first half, Vonn posted the fastest times of anyone in the bottom half, hitting 74 mph and completing the course in 1 minute, 29.63 seconds.

“It was an incredible day, I couldn’t be happier, quite emotional,” Vonn told Swiss broadcaster RTS. “I felt good this summer but I wasn’t sure how fast I was. I guess I know now how fast I am.”

After lying in the snow beyond the finish line, Vonn saw her time and raised her arms. She stood up and shouted, then placed her hands on her left cheek in a purely American gesture, imitating NBA star Steph Curry’s “Night, night.”

“In my mind I was thinking, ‘OK, well, I just need to ski the terrain really clean and keep my speed down,'” Vonn told reporters after the race. “I still didn’t ski the best I could in terms of bottom compression, but I tried to be dynamic, I tried to be clean, the way I skied and trained, and it was pretty solid.”

Vonn is working with a new coach, 36-time World Cup winner Aksel Lund Svindal. The partnership is already showing promise.

“We worked really hard, not just me but my whole team, from equipment to physical training, hired Aksel as well,” Vonn said. “I knew I was skiing fast, but you never know until the first race. I think I was a little faster than expected. I think I had a great race, but I also made a few mistakes, so I’m excited for tomorrow.”

Vonn will compete in another downhill race on Saturday and a super-G on Sunday.