Lindsey Vonn ready for more!
Written by: Patrick Lang
The decision of leaders at FIS taken early last summer to allow former top champions to return on the World cup circuit less than five years after stepping down from the tour inspired a couple of famous “Skiing Legends” to take the opportunity to race again against the clock with the official goal to enjoy again some exciting time on their racing skis.
Lindsey Vonn and Marcel Hirscher have much in common including the 20 big and small World Cup globes they claimed during their (first) career including 8 big crystal globes for the Austrian born Hirscher who represented The Netherland, the country of his mother, for a few weeks before injuring himself at a knee while training in Austria, and 4 for the American superstar. Interestingly enough, they both left the circuit in 2019 – at 30 for Marcel and 34 for Lindsey who turned 40 last October.
The upcoming women’s World Cup Super-G races at St.Moritz may well be an exciting highlight for this season start as US Skiing Legend Lindsey Vonn should be back on the tour as a racer six years after clinching her last FIS medal in downhill at Are, in Sweden. Her good results at FIS races in Copper Mountain, Colorado, gave her enough FIS points to qualify for the World Cup circuit. She was apparently also very fast last weekend at Beaver Creek, while skiing down the treacherous “Bird of Prey” course as a forerunner. How close to the podium can the US veteran come on the sometimes very challenging “Corviglia” slope at St.Moritz?
With her 82 victories in all alpine specialties, Vonn remains one of the most successful alpine ski racers in the history of the sport yet she is also remembered for her fighting spirit and her resilience which allowed her to achieve impressive comebacks after painful injuries or horrendous crashes. In her last seasons, the champion from Vail competed with strong pains at a knee that she finally successfully operated last spring. “The last two years of my career, I was in survival mode,” Vonn explained last week at Beaver Creek. “I’m stronger. I don’t think about my knee. I think about how I’m going to execute the race,” added the American who can now glide without feeling sore on the fast slopes.
Her goodbye race at Are, Sweden, ended with another fantastic 3rd place just a day after another spectacular crash in Super-G while fighting for victory – quite a symbolic result in fact that she greatly enjoyed with her team and the support of Sweden’s Skiing hero Ingemar Stenmark whom she personally invited to attend the event.
A positive athlete and charismatic role model, Lindsey seemed quite satisfied to end her amazing career on that highlight even though she could have some regrets! She lost so many racing opportunities over the past years because of dramatic accidents as at Schladming 2013 or Andorra 2016 which prevented her to claim more possible victories, crystal globes or medals at the 2014 Olympics in Korea as she needed much time before recovering her winning form.
There is little doubt in my mind about Vonn's capacity to establish new victory records in her heydays before stepping down mostly because those strong pains at her knees, including reaching that fabulous mark of 86 World Cup wins that Ingemar Stenmark set during his glorious career. In fact, during her career, she compiled numerous 2nd places with a delay of only 1/100 of a second on the various winners!
While Hirscher’s decision to return on the tour didn’t create too many emotional reactions within the ski community including some of his former rivals who seemed rather amused - or in some cases even excited - to cross again his path, Lindsey’s choice was often received with frowning eyebrows from experts and past athletes who are mostly worried about her physical potential at 40. They also fear she may tale great risks with her right knee newly operated last spring.
The fact that Lindsey had never stopped to train hard at the gym and that she even managed last winter to ski down the treacherous Streif course at Kitzbuehel - under limelight by night - didn't convince them about her present abilities to cruise down at high speed any course!
Yet some racers seem ready to be positively surprised by her comeback idea. "She's 40 and experienced enough to know what she is doing," said for instance Hirscher whose return in giant slalom at Soelden in October was judged as positive after he scored a honorable 27th place before struggling in the next two slalom races.
"She is definitely skiing well and pretty fast too, on some slopes she could do pretty well," commented Swiss Marco Odermatt, the great dominator of the past three seasons, who observed her at Copper Mt. where he was also training in November.
There haven't been many comeback tentatives in modern alpine ski racing, yet a few were pretty spectacular, also involving great stars as Austria's Annemarie Moser Proell and France's Jean Claude Killy in the 1970s.
After crushing the rest of the field from 1971 to 1975, collecting five consecutive overall World Cup globes and a several gold medals at FIS events, Annemarie decided at only 22 to step down after the World Cup Finals at Val Gardena and skip the 1976 Olympics at Innsbruck. Apparently she wanted to take some distance from the "White Circus" and stay aside of her sick dad Josef who died from cancer in 1976.
A few weeks prior the start of the 1976/77 season, she suddenly decided to get back on her racing skis and return on the circuit. She didn't need much time to excel again, winning the first downhill of the season at Cortina d'Ampezzo mid December a few days after being 3rd in the opening giant slalom at Val d'Isère.
Annemarie grabbed more gold medals in the following years including the missing Olympic title at Lake Placid after claiming her sixth overall World Cup title in 1979. She won 21 more World Cup events during those four seasons to reach a total of 62 victories. She was only 27 at her last Finals at Saalbach in March 1980 when she definitely retired!
Only 35 years later Vonn finally did as well at Cortina d'Ampezzo in January 2015 - a very emotional moment for 2010 Olympic champion who added twenty more wins in the following seasons despite those numerous setbacks.
A few years earlier, I had the pleasure to attend another remarkable comeback when Jean Claude Killy clinched the Professional World title at Aspen in March 1973, winning the last race after an intense battle with tour favorite Spider Sabich, sidelined after injuring himself during a crash.
The triple Olympic Champion from Grenoble 1968 hadn't been seriously racing since the 1968 World Cup Finals at Heavenly Valley where Sabich celebrated at 23 his maiden and only World Cup win in the last slalom of the winter.
"I decided to get out of retirement as a kind of bet with the former Rossignol Racing chief Gérard Rubaud who was putting together a pro team - yet in July 1972, he only offered me the job as a team manager since he didn't believe in my potential to race again at a high level in the dual format," Killy explained me last October.
"I have always enjoyed these kinds of personal challenges, I was only 29 at that time and in good physical shape," Killy added. "The start at Vail end of November was grueling as I had to get used to the format and my equipment was not working well... Fortunately, Rubaud came back to me later on with a good offer and in January 1973 I was already able to win a dual slalom... It was really fun."
"I can understand what motivates now true champions as Hirscher and Vonn who are both surely motivated by their strong passion for ski racing. For a downhiller, there is nothing as thrilling as having a long demanding course just for you... At the end of the day, you're always fighting with yourself while moving at your limits. "
"I just hope that Lindsey remains healthy and having fun despite the dangers. She has been a flamboyant athlete and her return can bring much excitement to the tour which is always positive."
Let’s hope that Lindsey will enjoy a safe season and eventually travel end of February 2025 to Kvitfjell where her friend Picabo Street clinched a superb silver medal in downhill at the 1994 Olympics!
Photo: Pentaphoto and Private from Patrick Lang
