Lindsey Vonn Comes Out Of Retirement, Re-Joins U.S. Ski Team

Lindsey Vonn is back! The highly-decorated skier announced Thursday that she is coming out of retirement and re-joining the U.S. Ski Team. 

Vonn, who turned 40 years old last month, has not competed since February 2019. She explained on Instagram at the time that she was struggling with multiple injuries and had “accepted” that she “cannot continue ski racing.”

According to a previous interview on 60 Minutes, Vonn’s extensive list of injuries included: two ACL tears, an MCL tear, an injury to her meniscus and several broken bones, including her wrist and multiple fingers.

“Despite extensive therapy, training and a knee brace, I am not able [to] make the turns necessary to compete the way I know I can,” she said at the time. “My body is broken beyond repair, and it isn’t letting me have the final season I dreamed of. My body is screaming at me to STOP, and it’s time for me to listen.”

Lindsey Vonn is coming out of retirement after five years.

(Photo by Michael Kappeler/picture alliance via Getty Images)

But not so fast!

After undergoing a partial knee replacement this past April, Vonn has spent the past few months training and feels ready to go again.

“Getting back to skiing without pain has been an incredible journey,” Vonn told The New York Times, adding that she wants to “continue to share my knowledge of the sport with these incredible women” on the American team.

Lindsey Vonn Is One Of The Greatest Skiers Of All Time

Vonn is a three-time Olympic medalist, including a downhill gold and super-G bronze at the 2010 Vancouver Games, and a bronze in the downhill at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games. She is also a four-time overall World Cup champion and owns eight world championship medals.

With 82 World Cup race victories, Vonn was at one point the most decorated female skier of all time — until Mikaela Shiffrin eclipsed that total in January 2023.

Vonn is back with the team effective immediately and will look to compete on the World Cup circuit this winter. But she’s being careful, too.

“I’m trying not to get too far ahead of myself because I have quite a few hoops to jump through,” Vonn said. “Obviously, I wouldn’t be doing this if I didn’t hope to be racing. I have aspirations. I love to go fast. How fast can I go? I don’t know.

“But I’m not going to put myself in a position to fail. My goal is to enjoy this, and hopefully that road takes me to World Cup races. I wouldn’t be back on the U.S. ski team if I didn’t have intentions.”

If all goes well, Lindsey Vonn could return to the Winter Olympics in February 2026 in Italy.