All that is missing is a podium for Lindsey Vonn, back at the age of 40 in the World Cup after six years of retirement, to crown her incredible comeback. Cortina d’Ampezzo, where she has so often shone, could offer it to her this weekend.
Among her 82 successes on the world circuit, Lindsey Vonn has conquered 12 in the upscale resort of the Dolomites. If she did even better in Lake Louise, Canada, with 18 victories, the American has long been without rival on the Olimpia della Tofane by succeeding, for example, in the super-G-downhill double in the same year three times (2010, 2015, 2016).
It must be said that the four-time winner of the big globe knows the track which will host the women’s alpine skiing events of the 2026 Olympics (February 6-22, 2026) well, with no less than 44 starts between 2002 and 2019 for a record of 20 podiums and only five abandonments.
No wonder, therefore, if ”Queen Lindsey” was delighted at the end of the Sankt Anton stage (Austria) to find her dear Olimpia della Tofanewho however did not give him any gifts for their reunion with a fall, without seriousness, during the first training Thursday. “I have great confidence in Cortina, I hope I can put everything in place there,” she hoped.
At the foot of the podium in Sankt Anton
His return to competition, with his right knee partially replaced by a titanium prosthesis, is already a success and his results have silenced the skeptics.
Fourteenth for the first race of her second career during the super-G in Saint-Moritz (Switzerland) at the end of December, she finished last weekend 6e of the descent of Sankt Anton before doing even better the next day with his 4th place in super-G.
“I’m in good momentum to arrive in Cortina, I feel really confident,” the 2010 Olympic downhill champion analyzed last weekend. “All I have left to do is reach the last 10-15% that I am missing and that I know I can reach,” she warned.
-But, as Lindsey Vonn as she is, she is not immune to a bad surprise in Cortina, as she was reminded by her fall on Thursday, which shook her up but did not hurt her. Because this Olimpia della Tofane does not forgive any mistakes: it is one of the most feared tracks on the women’s circuit, a long slide of 2,260 meters which leaves no respite with portions at 65%.
The nightmare of 2024
Just a year ago, the Cortina stage turned into a nightmare with a mess of fallsnotably for the American Mikaela Shiffrin, absent this year, and serious injuries, synonymous with the end of the season for the Swiss Corinne Sutter and Joana Hählen.
In 2022, shortly before the Beijing Olympics, the Italian Sofia Goggia also bore the brunt of the anger of the Tofane and got up with a serious sprain in her left knee, which did not prevent her from being Olympic vice-champion in downhill a few weeks later.
The Italian, already three podiums including a victory (super-G of Beaver Creek) after her double fracture of the tibia last winter, can aim for a fourth victory in downhill on Saturday, as shown his best time during the second training session on Fridaybut she still suffered a double retirement in Sankt Anton.
Speed is booming with the emergence of new names, such as the Swiss Malorie Blanc and the American Lauren Macugawhen it is not the Italian Federica Brignone who at 34 years old offers her first success in downhill.