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Lindsey Vonn on World Championships: ‘I’m ready to compete for a medal’

When Lindsey Vonn first started talking about a comeback this season, her goal was to be a non-competitive forerunner at the World Championships.

Now, after World Cup results the last two months that defied her expectations, not only is she going to race at worlds this week, but she also believes she can be among the fastest in the field in Saalbach, Austria.

Vonn is expected to compete in Thursday’s super-G and Saturday’s downhill (both at 5:30 a.m. ET on Peacock), plus possibly the new team combined event on Feb. 11.

“What changed to be able to be here is that I’m fast,” Vonn said in a press conference Monday. “I’m competitive. I think I’m ready to compete for a medal, and that’s really the only thing that counts here at World Championships. Hopefully I’m ready to be fast enough to be on the podium.”

NBC and Peacock combine to air every race of the World Alpine Skiing Championships from Saalbach, Austria.

Vonn had retired after taking downhill bronze at the 2019 World Championships, becoming at age 34 the oldest woman to win an individual world medal.

She cited the toll ski racing had taken on her body over an 18-year career. Specifically, her right knee that had been surgically repaired multiple times.

Vonn embarked on a comeback after partial right knee replacement surgery this past April. She got back on the slopes and skied without pain — “a completely new world,” she said.

“My knee feels incredible,” she said. “You can’t tell that I’ve been racing for the last few weeks.”

She returned to the World Cup circuit Dec. 21 and was immediately competitive. In seven races, her best finishes are fourth (super-G) and sixth (downhill).

“World Championships and Olympics are about managing pressure and expectation, and, again, I don’t have those right now,” said Vonn, who plans to retire after the 2026 Milan Cortina Games. “I’m sure next year at the Olympics, if I make the team, there will be expectations, but right now, I don’t feel like I have any, and I honestly don’t even know where I will place. I of course hope to be on the podium, but I could be 10th, and, honestly, that’s fine as well. My goal has never been to be competitive this year. I’m far ahead of where I ever expected to be. So, again, I think that just gives me an advantage.”

Vonn’s record as the oldest woman to win an individual world medal will likely be broken at these championships. Italian Federica Brignone, who leads the World Cup overall standings, is now an older 34 than Vonn was in 2019.

Vonn said the Saalbach course “doesn’t really suit me that well,” and she’ll gauge how competitive she can be after training runs.

But if Vonn reaches the podium, she will not only break her own female age record, but also the overall one. The oldest man to make an individual World Championships podium was 38-year-old Johan Clarey of France in 2019.

“I like records, not gonna lie,” Vonn said. “So if I can get another one, I’ll take the old records, no problem.”