Lindsey Vonn has admitted she’s ‘excited’ to be single at an Olympics for the first time in her illustrious career as she prepares to make her remarkable comeback in Italy next month.
The 41-year-old skier returned to the slopes last season after a partial knee replacement that left her finally able to straighten her leg for the first time in a decade.
Vonn quickly began to show the form that made her an Olympic gold medalist and four-time overall World Cup champion.
She’s won two World Cup downhill races this season – to bring her career total to 84 – and will be a favorite in both speed events in Milan-Cortina.
When she retired in 2019, Vonn had spent decades in the American sporting consciousness. Off the slope, she gained fame through her work as a model, big-brand endorsements and her high-profile dating endeavors.
She was married to fellow skier Thomas Vonn from 2007 to 2013, and later engaged to hockey player P.K. Subban, though that relationship ended in 2020. Vonn also dated Tiger Woods.
Lindsey Vonn is ‘excited’ to be single at an Olympics for the first time in her illustrious career
Vonn had knee surgery that allowed her to straighten her leg for the first time in a decade
But now she’s single going into a Winter Olympics for the first time and insists it’s ‘nice to just be focused on myself’.
‘I have never been single going into any Olympics in my life,’ she said in an interview with SELF.com.
‘So I’m excited to try that out. It’s been really nice to just be focused on myself.’
Since retiring in 2019, Vonn has kept busy by advising investment funds, charity work and spending time with her dogs and friends.
It may lead fans to wonder why she has put all of that aside to return to the grueling practice, long days and strict diet that is needed to compete for Olympic medals.
The answer is because after a two-year search she was finally able to have knee surgery that ended years of debilitating pain and opened up the possibility of a return to the slopes. It ‘couldn’t have gone better’, she explains.
Her coach, Olympic champion Aksel Lund Svindal, has also warned Vonn’s rivals in Italy that she’s now ‘strong’ and ‘technically better’ than before she retired in 2019.
But what does the future hold for Vonn if she proves in Italy that she can still compete with the sport’s very best? Will she keep going?
Despite her impressive form and medal potential, Vonn will be retiring again after the Olympics
Her coach says Vonn is ‘strong’ and ‘technically better’ than before she retired in 2019
‘No, no, no. That’s all she wrote. This is 24 years after my first Olympics. I’ve won everything I could have ever won,’ she added.
‘I’m not doing this to prove anything to anyone. I’m doing this because I think I can do well, it’s a meaningful place for me, and I think I can make a positive impact… But I don’t have to.
‘I’m going to stand on the starting gate with a lot of clarity, and a lot of perspective, and a lot of wisdom and knowledge that you don’t have when you’re younger.
‘I think my age in this scenario is an advantage, and I’m gonna use that to the best of my ability.’
