The comparisons between Lindsey Vonn and Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson began when Vonn crashed on Feb. 5, 2013, blowing out her right knee about one year before the Sochi Olympics.
An orthopedic surgeon called Vonn “the female Adrian Peterson” when looking at her prospects of returning from that crash to make the 2014 U.S. Olympic Team.
Vonn was medically cleared to ski 176 days after that crash, leading one of her sponsors, Red Bull, to point out that Vonn’s recovery was 50 days less than Peterson’s recovery time from a torn ACL and MCL on Dec. 24, 2011.
Of course, Vonn later reinjured that knee twice last fall and had to pull out of Olympic contention one month before the Winter Games.
She has since talked about forging ahead toward the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics (while also joining Peterson in pitching Minnesota’s successful bid for the 2018 Super Bowl).
Vonn and Peterson were compared again Thursday, by the skier herself.
“I’ve gotten a lot of inspiration from other athletes who have come back from injuries, like Adrian Peterson in football and Maria Riesch in my own sport; she had back-to-back ACL surgeries and returned to compete as strong as ever,” Vonn said, also mentioning her German friendly rival who retired after last season in an interview with Shape magazine. “These last two injuries have been really devastating for me timing-wise, but that’s only making me more determined since I know that my next Olympics will probably be my last.”
Vonn also provided an update on her rehab.
“I’ve been pushing really hard in the gym these last two months, working out two times a day, six days a week,” she told the magazine. “For a while I really wasn’t able to do much with my knee besides basic range-of-motion exercises, so I really focused on hammering my upper body hard -- lots of pull-ups.”