Olympic gold medallist Lindsey Vonn made her long-awaited return to competitive skiing on Saturday, marking her first appearance in nearly six years. The 40-year-old American skier, who retired in 2019, finished mid-pack in her initial two races at Copper Mountain, Colorado. Vonn, a four-time overall World Cup champion, underwent partial knee replacement surgery in April and has been training intensively in recent months, announcing her comeback in November.
In her first of two downhill races at the FIS Fall Festival, Vonn placed 24th out of 45 skiers with a time of 1:07.23, trailing winner Mirjam Puchner of Austria by 1.44 seconds. She followed this with a 27th-place finish in the second race, clocking 1:07.52, 1.53 seconds behind Austrian Cornelia Huetter.
"Today was a solid start and I had a blast being in start with my teammates again," Vonn shared on social media. "While I’m sure people will speculate and say I’m not in top form because of the results, I disagree. This was training for me." She added, "I’m still testing equipment and getting back in the groove. This is only the beginning, and the way I’m skiing is more important than the times at this point."
Vonn retired as the most decorated woman in alpine skiing, holding 82 World Cup wins, a record that has since been surpassed by her compatriot Mikaela Shiffrin, who now boasts 99 wins and counting.
Source link: https://www.theguardian.com
