Lindsey Vonn just became the oldest woman to make it to the podium at an alpine world cup, proving once again that second acts are the new retirement.
The athlete, who is all of 40, took home the silver medal at the Super-G race at the Audi FIS Ski World Cup finals in Idaho on Sunday, March 23, a comeback 2,565 days in the making, as that’s how long it’s been since she last medaled at an equivalent event. On Instagram, fans expressed their admiration and shock, with one writing, “I honestly didn’t believe this could be possible at 40 following a knee replacement. This must go down as one of the greatest sporting achievements ever.”
Per People, the previous record-holder was Alexandra Meissnitzer, who in 2008 made podium at the age of thirty-four years and 9 months.
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Vonn, who has three Olympic medals already, came out of a six-year retirement earlier this year with a new titanium knee and a lofty goal in mind: she wants to make it to the Olympics one more time, in 2026, before stepping away from the sport. “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,” she told the Guardian after her race on Sunday.
“As much as I love skiing, it’s been a hard road,” she admitted. “I just continue to prove that anything is possible. I’ve been knocked down so many times in my life personally, physically, mentally, beat down and I always pick myself back up. It’s not always easy.”
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Athletic longevity sounds like good news for, like, the human race as a whole, but bizarrely, there are apparently some people trying to stop Lindsey Vonn’s amazing un-retirement. She told NBC Sports that there are “people are telling me that I should just quit—again.” Maybe those people should be the ones who quit, as they clearly have no idea what they’re talking about.
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