Lindsey Vonn Set To Make First World Cup Start After Ski Racing Return

In November, alpine skier Lindsey Vonn, who retired in 2020 after an 18-season World Cup career, announced she would return to the U.S. ski team for the 2024–25 season.

And on Saturday, Vonn, 40, will make her first World Cup start since 2019 at the St. Moritz super-G series.

Earlier this month, Vonn competed in two lower-tier FIS super-G races at Copper Mountain, Colorado, finishing 24th and 19th. That was enough for her to earn enough points to qualify for a return to the World Cup.

Vonn didn’t start in mid-December’s Birds of Prey World Cup race in Beaver Creek, Colorado, but she did serve as the final forerunner as the women raced the historic course alongside the men for the first time.

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There, Vonn’s times were 1.2 seconds behind downhill winner Cornelia Huetter and 1.4 behind super-G winner Sofia Goggia. That, more so than the Copper Mountain races, is a good precursor of what’s to come for Vonn in St. Moritz.

In a July 2024 revision of FIS Alpine Ski World Cup rules, FIS added a wild card option that guarantees returning World Cup racers a starting position after the top 30; in St. Moritz, Vonn will have No. 31.

Marcel Hirscher took advantage of the same rule change when he returned to ski racing after coming out of retirement earlier this year.

Vonn’s last World Cup race was in Cortina d’Ampezzo in January 2019; she retired a few weeks later. Now, she’s eyeing the possibility of a return—and a chance to rewrite the final chapter of her career story—when Cortina co-hosts the 2026 Winter Olympics with Milan.

Since Vonn stepped away from ski racing, Mikaela Shiffrin has overtaken her World Cup wins record—Shiffrin now has 99, compared to Vonn’s 82. But Vonn continues to hold the record among men and women World Cup wins in downhill (43) and super-G (28).

She’ll have her first chance to add to those 28 super-G wins in the St. Moritz races on on Saturday and Sunday, at 4:30 a.m. ET and 5:00 a.m. ET, respectively. The races can be viewed at skiandsnowboard.live.

The other U.S. Ski & Snowboard women who will start alongside Vonn at St. Moritz are Keely Cashman, Breezy Johnson, Lauren Macuga, Tricia Mangan, Allison Mollin, Jackie Wiles and Bella Wright.

Whether Shiffrin, who suffered a deep abdominal puncture wound in the Killington giant slalom World Cup race, will be able to return to ski racing this season is unclear.