Six years later it’s “Wow, Lindsey, wow!”
The racecourse commentator who broadcast Lindsey Vonn’s first World Cup downhill race since 2019 – the American is 40 years old and has a titanium knee – summed up how impressive the skiing great’s performance was.
Vonn skied to an impressive sixth place, wearing an unfamiliar, low-placed bib number No. 32, in what she helped ensure was a race for the ages in the sun-drenched Austrian resort of St. Anton.
The United States star – the greatest downhill racer in Women’s World Cup history – was fastest on the first part of the course at 124 km/h (77 mph) and finished 0.58 seconds behind race leader Federica Brignone from Italy.
Vonn raised both arms in the air and smiled broadly as she crossed the finish line and saw that her time was fifth fastest.
“That was fun,” Vonn told broadcaster Eurosport. “I made a few more mistakes, I know I can be faster.
“I haven’t started outside the top thirty since I was seventeen. All things considered, it was a great start,” she said.
Stunningly, Vonn was pushed to sixth place as World Cup downhill debutant Malorie Blanc, wearing bib number 46, rode into second place.
The 21-year-old Swiss promise – who was not yet born when Vonn started her World Cup career – finished just 0.07 seconds behind Brignone.
“I was a little happier with fifth place than sixth,” Vonn joked.
It was the second race of this unexpected new chapter in Vonn’s legendary career with a titanium knee suffered during surgery last year.
Three weeks ago she had placed 14th in a super-G in St. Moritz, Switzerland.
“I feel a little more confident and comfortable in the descent than in the super-G. And I know this hill very well,” said Vonn, who won in St. Anton in 2007.
Vonn won a record 43 downhill races in her World Cup career with 82 victories. Her previous World Cup downhill was in January 2019, finishing ninth in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy. Just weeks later, she took bronze at the 2019 world championships in Are, Sweden, before retiring.
Vonn skied in picture-postcard conditions on Saturday, on a still and sunny day with temperatures of minus 8 degrees Celsius. The Karl Schranz course was shortened to 1.9 km (1.2 miles) due to heavy snowfall after Thursday’s training run.
She will start in a super-G on Sunday before moving on next week to Cortina, the signature women’s speed course, where she has 12 career World Cup victories. The hill will also host women’s races during the 2026 Olympic Games.