Twelve more pounds of muscle. Equipment dialed in. A new superstar coach.
At age 41, Lindsey Vonn is feeling more powerful than she has in years. So powerful that she already pulled away from the field in the very first official downhill training session of the season Wednesday.
Next up, Vonn will get her Olympic racing season underway this weekend with two World Cup downhills and a super-G in St. Moritz, Switzerland.
“Physically I’m in possibly the best shape I’ve ever been in,” Vonn said at a news conference in the Swiss resort. “And my body doesn’t hurt, so that’s the best part of all.”
Vonn returned to skiing last season after nearly six years of retirement — and following a partial replacement surgery on her right knee, which included inserting two pieces of titanium.
Having been the most successful speed racer — among men and women — during the first part of her career, Vonn had mixed results last season. She didn’t reach the podium until her final race last March when she finished second in a super-G on home snow in Sun Valley, Idaho.
“My goal was to get a lot stronger this summer,” Vonn said. “I was thinner than I would have liked last season. I didn’t really have any time to prepare so I didn’t have time to gain my mass back. I was still quite a bit lighter than I was when I was racing in my prime.
“But I was able to gain about 12 pounds (5.5 kilograms) this summer, which I was thrilled about,” Vonn added. “It took a lot of hard work. I was probably the most disciplined I’ve ever been with my diet and just how I approached the entire summer. I put everything I had into being as physically prepared as possible.”
Vonn is aiming to compete in three events at the Feb. 6-22 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics: downhill, super-G and the new team combined race.
“For my age, I feel pretty damn good,” Vonn said. “I probably feel better now than I did before I tore my first ACL in 2013. So that was quite a long time ago.”
Vonn’s 43 downhill wins and 28 super-G victories are both World Cup records – among men and women. Her 82 World Cup victories are third all time behind American teammate Mikaela Shiffrin (104) and retired Swedish great Ingemar Stenmark (86).
In Wednesday’s opening training session on the St. Moritz course, Vonn placed 0.59 seconds ahead of Kajsa Vickhoff Lie of Norway and 0.71 ahead of Italian standout Sofia Goggia.
There’s another training session on Thursday. Then the downhill races are scheduled for Friday and Saturday followed by the super-G on Sunday.
A year ago, Vonn made her return to the World Cup circuit in St. Moritz after nearly six years of retirement and placed 14th in a super-G.
Vonn said she tried “20 to 30 pairs” of new boots last season before eventually pulling out an old pair that was collecting dust in her basement.
Aksel Lund Svindal, a former overall World Cup champion like Vonn, joined her coaching staff for this season.
“Lindsey was very convincing that this was a job that I could do better than most people,” Svindal said.
St. Moritz is the first of five speed weekends that Vonn will likely compete in before the Olympics. The others are: Val d’Isere, France, on Dec. 20-21; Zauchensee, Austria, on Jan. 10-11; Tarvisio, Italy, on Jan. 17-18; and Crans Montana, Switzerland, on Jan. 30-31.
___
Andrew Dampf is at https://x.com/AndrewDampf
___
AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
