Lindsey Vonn Makes History with Ski World Cup Win Ahead of 2026 Winter Olympics

In her quest to make the 2026 Olympics, Lindsey Vonn scored her first World Cup victory in seven years on Friday.

Vonn won the women's downhill at the 2025/26 FIS Alpine Ski World Cup in Switzerland. The three-time Olympic medalist posted a winning time of 1:29.63, nearly one full second better than runner-up Magdalena Egger of Austria (1:30.61).

The win makes the 41-year-old Vonn the oldest skiier ever to win a World Cup race. She broke the record previously held by Didier Cuche, who was 37 when he won the super-G at the 2012 World Cup.

Vonn now has 83 career World Cup victories, 10th-most all-time. Mikaela Shiffrin is the only American skiier with more career wins (104).

"It felt so good," Vonn said after her victory. "I don't have to drive at the limit and I'm still fast and driving cleanly."

Vonn is also slated to compete in another downhill race on Saturday, followed by the super-G on Sunday. She has expressed plenty of optimism going into the latter event.

"I'm actually really excited for super-G," Vonn said, "because I'm skiing better in super-G than I am in downhill."

This weekend is a crucial step for Vonn in her quest to make the 2026 Winter Olympics. She announced a return to competition in November 2024 after undergoing a partial knee replacement surgery seven months earlier.

Vonn initially retired at the end of the 2018-19 World Cup season. Her first event back was at the FIS Fall Festival in December 2024 when she finished 24th out of 45 skiiers in one of her downhill runs.

She has cited Cortina, which will be the host site of the 2026 Games along with Milan, as "the reason" for her comeback attempt because it's "where I got my first podium" and "broke the women's World Cup win record there" in 2016.

Vonn has competed at the Olympics four times in her career (2002, 2006, 2010 and 2018). She has three career medals, including one gold in the downhill at the 2010 Games.