Lindsey Vonn returned to the rostrum for the primary time since she got here out of retirement late final 12 months.
The American snowboarding star got here in second within the super-G on the World Cup Finals in Solar Valley, Idaho on Sunday ending 1.29 seconds behind first-place finisher Lara Intestine-Behrami, who additionally received the super-G season title.
Vonn returned from retirement in an effort to compete within the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy.
“Today meant everything to me,” Vonn mentioned to NBC Sports activities. “This is the road now to Cortina next year.”
Vonn, an 82-time World Cup winner and the 2010 Olympic downhill champion, broke the report for the oldest feminine World Cup podium finisher at 40 years previous.
It bested the earlier report set by Austrian Alexandra Meissnitzer at 34 years and almost 9 months previous.
The race was probably the final World Cup race that she’ll compete in on American soil.
“I usually do better when the pressure’s higher,” Vonn mentioned. “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.”
Previous to Sunday, Vonn’s finest end since she got here again had been sixth in a downhill and a fourth-place end 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 occasions.
“When you love something and you work hard at something, it feels really good when you’re finally rewarded,” Vonn mentioned. “It was joy. It was relief. It was satisfaction in the fact that this adventure that I set myself on is worth something.”
