WATCH: Lindsey Vonn celebrates after finishing in top-10 in 1st World Cup downhill in 6 years

Lindsey Vonn celebrated her top-10 finish while competing in her first World Cup downhill race in six years. Vonn made her competitive comeback to alpine skiing in November 2024, after retiring in 2019 due to persistent injuries and surgeries, following a partial knee replacement surgery in April last year.

After the surgery, her knee felt better than it had in years, leading her to give skiing another chance and return to competition. With the guidance of her doctors and her own determination, she decided to make a comeback.

While the 40-year-old made her World Cup comeback in St. Moritz on December 21, racing her first Super-G, she finished an impressive sixth in the downhill World Cup at St. Anton, Austria on January 11, 2025, with a time of 1:16.66, just 0.58 seconds off the leader. Notably, this was also her first downhill race of the World Cup circuit post-comeback.

Take a look at Lindsey Vonn’s celebration after she achieved a remarkable finish here, via Eurosport on Instagram:

However, it was Federica Brignone who stole the spotlight with her maiden downhill World Cup victory in Austria with a 1:16.08. With this, the 34-year-old scripted history to become the oldest skier to win a World Cup downhill race, breaking Lindsey Vonn’s feat.

Lindsey Vonn opens up on disapproval surrounding her comeback

Lindsey Vonn speaks at a press conference ahead of the Women's World Cup at Beaver Creek Resort (Photo by Dustin Satloff/U.S. Ski and Snowboard/Getty Images)

Lindsey Vonn opened up about her commitment to skiing and added that her comeback is backed by thorough research and doctors' approval. In an interview with the International Ski Federation, she said:

“I'm always going to be true to myself. I can't change the way people feel about me or think about what I'm doing. All I know is that I love skiing. I'm really happy to be here. I think my teammates are happy that I'm back. I'm not stupid. I did my research. My doctors approved everything that I'm doing.” [3:02 onwards]

She further mentioned people’s disapproval of her comeback, stating:

“If they don't agree, then that's kind of their problem. I've always been a little different, but I mean I've always also done things that no one else has done before and so when people are introduced to new things sometimes, they don't like it. But it doesn't mean that it's bad, it just means that it's new and different.”

It is worth noting that Vonn's comeback has faced opposition from former Swiss alpine skiers like Sonja Nef, Bruno Kernen, and Pirmin Zurbriggen. However, she has not hesitated to call them out on social media.