Lindsey Vonn returned to the podium for the first time since she came out of retirement late last year.
The American skiing star came in second in the super-G at the World Cup Finals in Sun Valley, Idaho on Sunday finishing 1.29 seconds behind first-place finisher Lara Gut-Behrami, who also won the super-G season title.
Vonn returned from retirement in an effort to compete in the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy.
“Today meant everything to me,” Vonn said to NBC Sports. “This is the road now to Cortina next year.”
Vonn, an 82-time World Cup winner and the 2010 Olympic downhill champion, broke the record for the oldest female World Cup podium finisher at 40 years old.
It bested the previous record set by Austrian Alexandra Meissnitzer at 34 years and nearly 9 months old.
The race was likely the last World Cup race that she’ll compete in on American soil.
“I usually do better when the pressure’s higher,” Vonn said. “It’s the last race of the season. I just put it all on the line. This is the level that I know I can ski. I know I can even do better than that. It’s been a rough season of people saying that I can’t, that I’m too old, that I’m not good enough anymore. I think I proved everyone wrong.”
Prior to Sunday, Vonn’s best finish since she came back had been sixth in a downhill and a fourth-place finish in a super-G in mid-January.
Vonn has had an up-and-down time since she returned to the slopes and the American admitted that “it’s been hard to stay positive” at times.
“When you love something and you work hard at something, it feels really good when you’re finally rewarded,” Vonn said. “It was joy. It was relief. It was satisfaction in the fact that this adventure that I set myself on is worth something.”
