Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
- Lindsey Vonn, at 40, secured a podium finish at Sun Valley Super G.
- Vonn aims for 2026 Winter Games, feeling optimistic after her recent success.
- She plays a key role in Utah's 2034 Winter Games.
SALT LAKE CITY — When Lindsey Vonn secured a podium finish at the Sun Valley Super G finals on Sunday, her first since returning to ski racing nearly six years after retiring, she became the oldest woman to medal in a skiing World Cup at 40.
"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," Vonn told NBC Sports, describing how she "just put it all on the line" to win a medal.
She's closer than ever to her goal of competing in the 2026 Winter Games in Milan-Cortina, Italy. While the Team USA skiers won't be named until next winter, many expect to see Vonn on the slopes at what would be her fifth Olympics.
"I will definitely be the oldest, but also the most experienced on that track," Vonn told Olympics.com about her hopes of skiing next year at Cortina d'Ampezzo in an interview shortly after her emotional victory.
"I think that also gives me confidence going to Cortina and knowing that I can perform when the pressure is high, I still have what it takes," she said. "And of course I have to qualify, but after today, I feel really optimistic about my chances."
But Vonn already has a big role in another upcoming Winter Games, in Utah in 2034. Not only was she a key member of the bid team that landed a second Winter Games for the state, Vonn serves on the elite executive committee overseeing the 2034 Winter Games.
Fraser Bullock, president and executive chair of Utah's Olympic organizers, was in Sun Valley to see Vonn's second-place finish, 1.29 seconds behind Switzerland's Lara Gut-Behrami, who clinched a record sixth super G championship.
"Simply incredible," Bullock said, calling the course tough and steep. "She killed it. Amazing."
He said it's "perfect" that Vonn is one of six members of the executive committee. Besides Bullock and Vonn, the members are Olympic bobsledder Chris Kinney; Gov. Spencer Cox's Olympic adviser, Steve Starks; and both of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee's top leaders.
"Her comeback is one of the most amazing stories in the history of sport," Bullock said, calling Vonn, who underwent partial knee replacement surgery a year ago, "a worldwide icon in winter sport."
Vonn, he said, "has already had a huge impact on our Games by introducing the athlete family initiative," referring to plans to provide housing and other services for the families of 2034 Olympians.
The idea for an "athlete family village" at the University of Utah, near where Olympians will once again be housed during the Winter Games, came as a result of Vonn seeing firsthand how much it takes for family members to attend an Olympics.
At her first, Utah's 2002 Winter Games, Vonn was joined by her parents, grandparents, four younger siblings and other relatives who relied on a second cousin in Salt Lake City for a place to stay, and public transportation to get around.
After that, though, it was hard for most of her family members to get to a Games. Her late mother, who was disabled, made trips to other competitions, including the 2006 Winter Games in Torino, Italy, but had trouble getting to some venues.
"I want to make that experience better for other families than it was for my family," Vonn told the Deseret News last year, adding that "growing up as a kid, that's all I wanted to do was be a Olympian. My family the reason why I was able to do that."
