Lindsey Vonn To Rejoin U.S. Ski Team For 2024–25 Season

Lindsey Vonn, whose decorated ski racing career included three Olympic medals, has rejoined the U.S. ... [+] Ski Team for the 2024-25 season

In 2020, after a World Cup career spanning 18 seasons, Lindsey Vonn, one of the most decorated alpine skiers of all time, retired.

When she was finished, she had won three Olympic medals, 20 World Cup titles (including four overall Crystal Globes), eight World Championship medals, 137 World Cup podiums and 82 World Cup victories.

It was her decision, and she owned it, but injuries—she spent the majority of her final season working her way back from a bad knee injury—accelerated the timeline.

Leaving competitive skiing—a therapeutic outlet and a place she has always “felt safe and happy”—was “like a death in the family,” Vonn told me at the time. All these complicated feelings were captured in an HBO documentary, The Final Season, produced by Teton Gravity Research, which offered the world a rare glimpse of a raw, unvarnished Vonn throughout her final season.

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But four years later, there’s been a major new development. A successful knee surgery this past April has allowed Vonn, for the first time in a long time, to ski—and ski at a high level—without pain.

And that, in turn, has led to the 40-year-old’s decision to come out of retirement and rejoin the U.S. Ski Team for the 2024–25 season.

“Getting back to skiing without pain has been an incredible journey,” Vonn said in a press release. “I am looking forward to being back with the Stifel U.S. Ski Team and to continue to share my knowledge of the sport with these incredible women.”

The U.S. Alpine Ski Team has undergone major developments since Vonn retired in 2020.

In October 2022, investment banking company Stifel announced a four-year sponsorship deal to become the title sponsor of the alpine team, which U.S. Ski & Snowboard president and CEO Sophie Goldschmidt said at the time was the most significant alpine partnership in U.S. Ski & Snowboard history.

Moreover, Stifel’s investment was the first U.S. Ski & Snowboard alpine partnership to extend beyond the World Cup level into the development level, supporting athletes through every level of elite competition in North America—World Cup, NorAms and national championships.

Due in part to this increased support, the U.S. alpine team has won—a lot—in the last two years. In January 2023, Mikaela Shiffrin won her 83rd World Cup race to become the winningest woman alpine skier of all time, edging past her tie with Vonn.

That March, Shiffrin jumped ahead of skiing legend Ingemar Stenmark to take the sport’s all-time record with 87 World Cup wins.

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The U.S. alpine team also boasts a robust pipeline of rising stars, including Lauren Macuga, AJ Hurt and Jacqueline Wiles, who joined the A team for the 2024–25 season.

Vonn undoubtedly can serve as a mentor to these up-and-coming athletes—but one of the fiercest competitors in skiing history wouldn’t be coming out of retirement if she didn’t also think she could threaten some podiums. She plans to focus on the speed disciplines of super-G and downhill.

She also hasn’t ruled out an attempt to compete at the 2026 Milano-Cortina Olympics.

To rejoin World Cup competition, Vonn must earn FIS points or register as a wild card using race exemptions given to former Olympic and world champions, as Marcel Hirscher did earlier this season.

Vonn could return to action in mid-December in Beaver Creek, Colorado, as a forerunner—testing the course ahead of the racers—on the “Birds of Prey” course and then enter the World Cup super-G races on December 21 and 22 in St. Moritz, Switzerland, as a wild card.

“Lindsey has made an indelible mark on alpine skiing and our organization throughout her career. We’re delighted to welcome her back,” Goldschmidt said in a press release. “Her dedication and passion towards alpine skiing is inspiring and we’re excited to have her back on snow and see where she can go from here.”