Lindsey Vonn proves she didn’t rush her comeback

The American skier succeeded in her bet. In just three races, she is already mixing with the best thanks to improved skiing technique. Lindsey Vonn proves that she prepared her return to business carefully.

His return commands respect, whether we like it or not. She was said to be ready to get back on skis to start outdoor therapy, in racing mode, to leave her worries at home in the United States. Except that Lindsey Vonn still had a lot of gas in the engine.

After three contested races, the American downhiller is in full swing and is starting to gain momentum which could do great damage.

The tenacity and talent of the former queen of speed have not weakened after several years of retirement. Ten months after an operation which now allows her to ski with an artificial knee, she plays the leading roles to the great surprise of many observers.

And it took a passion and a strong ego to get back into the deep end of alpine skiing. But above all, it is his technique that makes people react: Vonn has changed.

Back for the love of skiing, for the beauty of the gesture, she showed up at the gate with a revised technical background, muscular, remarkable thanks to her new stability. She proves that her return was not rushed.

Love can sometimes move mountains, as someone would say, and transform a skier into 40 broomsticks. We must say it, proclaim it, because St. Anton was an important test, very important for Vonn, in an event where the light was difficult during the Sunday super-G. “I think it was a very good step forward,” she confided, admitting that St. Moritz was a warm-up gallop. An appetizer before seeing the Minnesota TGV surge and score new World Cup victories? Doubt is (almost) no longer allowed.

A new knee and a new patience on skis

Thanks to her new patience in the curves, which we were able to discover in Austria when she was shaken on the lower part of the track, these small details promise that the American is capable of sliding her spatulas on the “box”.

If you take her old sleeves, you see her struggling to hold her line, with a very unstable upper body. Conversely, in 2025, it shines with its calmness on skis, while being much more focused on its slats.

Vonn was often on indoor skiing, her guilty pleasure. These last three rounds of the race, this technical error seems to have been erased, even if we have seen it tip over sometimes.

And if the technical work is bearing fruit, his commitment is still developing. We see it: the room for progress is there. Simply, these recent rounds are not perfect.

She even confided that “her equipment is improving day by day”. Before conceding that she is not yet in full possession of her means: “I just have to get the last 10 or 15% that I can achieve,” she analyzed after her excellent weekend. Austrian.

That’s good: the weekend (January 18 and 19) of Cortina d’Ampezzo is fast approaching, a track where she has won 12 victories.

However, in her unthinkable ride to the summits, Lindsey Vonn remembered that making mistakes is part of the game and her fragile knee is hanging by a thread. And for good reason: the first training session in Italy ended in the net. But nothing seemed to dampen her morale and the self-sacrifice of the champion, who returned to battle the next day on the Olympia delle Tofane.

We would almost tend to say that everything is too beautiful, too scripted as Hollywood loves it. But Vonn likes fairy tales.