American skiing icon Lindsey Vonn has achieved the improbable, securing her place at a fifth Winter Olympic Games with a remarkable comeback at the age of 40. The legendary speed queen, who many believed had concluded her Olympic story with a bronze medal in Pyeongchang in 2018, will now compete in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, this February.
The Improbable Path Back to the Olympic Rings
When Vonn announced her return to competitive skiing in 2024, after five seasons in retirement, scepticism was rife. The physical toll of a career laden with injuries, coupled with her age, made the prospect of qualifying for the 2026 Games seem a distant dream. Her initial comeback season in 2024-25 was a struggle, marked by multiple Did Not Finish (DNF) results and a single podium—a second-place finish in a Super-G in Idaho.
Vonn admitted she returned to the sport lighter and less powerful than in her prime. This realisation sparked a transformative summer of training. "My goal was to get a lot stronger this summer," Vonn explained. Through disciplined diet and intense conditioning, she gained around 12 pounds, declaring she had reached "possibly the best shape I've ever been in."
A Dominant Five-Race Campaign Seals Qualification
The results of that gruelling preseason work were immediate and spectacular. Vonn needed only five races in the 2025-26 World Cup season to accumulate enough FIS points for Olympic qualification. The stunning run began in St. Moritz, where she won the downhill event, beating Austria's Magdalena Egger by almost a full second. This victory made her the oldest winner in World Cup history.
She followed this with a second place in another St. Moritz downhill, a fourth in the Super-G, and then a pair of third-place finishes in both downhill and Super-G at Val d'Isère in France. This blistering form propelled her to the top of the FIS downhill standings, earning her the leader's red bib and an automatic Olympic berth. She now leads second-place skier Emma Aicher by nearly 70 points.
Chasing History in the Italian Dolomites
With her ticket to Italy now confirmed, Vonn can set her sights on a historic final chapter. The Cortina course is a familiar and successful venue for her, with 11 career wins there. Should she climb the podium in February, she would become the oldest alpine skier, male or female, ever to win an Olympic medal.
Yet, the veteran champion remains acutely aware of the fine margins in her sport. "You could get one gust of wind and your Olympic dreams are over," Vonn told SKI Magazine. "It's not easy to win when you're expected to win. But I will do the best I can with the cards that I'm dealt, and hopefully I'll get a little luck."
Her journey from retirement to a fifth Olympics cements her legacy not just as one of America's greatest ever athletes—a three-time Olympic medallist and former all-time winningest woman on the World Cup tour—but as a figure of extraordinary resilience and determination.
