Lindsey Vonn on Saturday was not about to put everything on the line in her first FIS Alpine Ski World Cup race back after more than five years of retirement.
Not with her history of crashes and injuries, not with her new titanium knee and not at age 40.
Vonn took a low-risk approach, finishing 14th in a super-G, crossing 1.18 seconds behind Austrian winner Cornelia Huetter.
Photo: AFP
“This was the perfect start,” Vonn said. “Today is just the first step and I’m not looking for more. Today I really needed to get to the finish. I wanted to have a solid result, and that’s exactly what I did.”
Still, when Vonn came down, the crowd of Swiss-flag-waving fans turned silent in anticipation and all of the other top skiers watched her run on a perfectly clear day in the Alps.
“To have her back on the world stage is just fantastic,” said Sophie Goldschmidt, president and CEO of US Ski and Snowboard. “Just the attention she’s bringing to the sport and the role model she is — it’s a big day.”
Vonn left the tour with 82 World Cup wins — the record for a woman at the time and within reach of the then all-time Alpine mark of 86 held by Swedish standout Ingemar Stenmark. The women’s record held by Vonn was eclipsed last year by Mikaela Shiffrin, who now has an outright record 99 wins.
The oldest woman to win a World Cup race was Federica Brignone, the Italian who won the giant slalom in Soelden, Austria, in October to start this season, at age 34.
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