Lindsey Vonn is getting quite comfortable on the medals podium again.
Vonn won a bronze medal for a second consecutive day, this time in Sunday’s super-G at the World Cup in Val d’Isere, France. As she crossed the finish line in a time of 1:20.60, 0.36 seconds behind her good friend, Italy’s Sofia Goggia, Vonn nodded as if to say, ‘That will do.’
Alice Robinson of New Zealand, who won the season’s first super-G last weekend, was second.
‘All in all, I’m not disappointed in my skiing,’ Vonn said, according to the International Ski Federation. ‘Yesterday I made a mistake; today, I just had the wrong direction (off a jump) but it wasn’t really a mistake, so I’m happy with it.
‘It’s really hard to always be on the podium, so I’m walking away with a smile.’
As she should. Vonn has been on the podium four times in her first five races this season, all within the last 10 days. Go back to last season, and it’s five podiums in six races. Vonn was the silver medalist in super-G at the World Cup finals in Sun Valley, Idaho.
American Keely Cashman tied for 11th, a mere 0.02 seconds from being in the top 10. Tricia Mangan was the third American in the top 25, tying for 24th.
This kind of consistent excellence was the standard for much of Vonn’s career. She has 83 World Cup wins, behind only Mikaela Shiffrin and Ingemar Stenmark, and had double-digit podium finishes seven times between 2008 and 2016. (She missed most of the 2014 season after a crash.)
But injuries took their toll, and Vonn was forced to retire in 2019. After a partial knee replacement in the spring of 2024, Vonn returned to the World Cup circuit, determined to end her career on her terms.
She made the podium once last season, at the World Cup finals. But with an entire off-season to train and fine-tune her equipment, Vonn is now back to her old self. And back on the podium on a regular basis.