Lindsey Vonn Finishes 6th in 1st World Cup Downhill Race Since Ending Retirement

Lindsey Vonn had a successful return to the slopes in her second competitive race since 2019.

The legendary skier finished sixth in the World Cup downhill race in St. Anton, Switzerland, on Saturday. Her time of 1:16.66 was .58 seconds behind the winner, Federica Brignone of Italy.

Vonn originally announced her retirement after the 2019 World Championships. She wrapped up what was thought to be the end of her career with a bronze medal women's downhill, making her the oldest female racer to medal at the event (34 years old).

Shortly after her 40th birthday in October, Vonn announced she was coming out of retirement to rejoin the U.S. ski team. The decision came six months after she had knee replacement surgery.

The Athletic's Zack Pierce noted Vonn was the top American finisher in her discipline on Saturday.

"I feel a little bit more confident and comfortable in downhill than I do in Super-G," Vonn said after her run (h/t Pierce), "and I know this hill really well, so I knew the challenges that it had today and with the snow conditions, where I needed to execute. I still made a couple of mistakes, I know I can be faster. But I think for the first downhill race in six years, it was a pretty good start."

This was actually Vonn's second event since coming out of retirement. She previously competed in the super-G at the World Cup last month, finishing 14th.

"This was the perfect start," Vonn said about her return event. "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."

Vonn has said her ultimate goal is to represent the United States at the 2026 Olympics in Italy. She has competed at the Winter Games four times, winning three medals. The crowning achievement of her career was winning gold in the downhill at the 2010 Olympics.