Featured image: John-Ryan Lockman
Ski season is starting off with an impressive bang in Vail and Beaver Creek. As part of Vail’s new music series, Eli & Fur kicked off the weekend of festivities with a free rooftop show at the on-mountain lodge, Eagle’s Nest—a first for the ski resort and quite the scene at 10,000 feet. Skiers were treated to heavy beats under the gaze of Mount of the Holy Cross and Game Creek Bowl. Later that evening, Eli & Fur opened up for Dutch DJ and Tiësto at Ford Park near the base of the mountain, which was an all-in celebration of the weekend’s historical World Cup event.
The world of alpine skiing witnessed an unforgettable moment this past weekend as the first-ever women’s Bird’s of Prey downhill race took place and Lindsey Vonn—one of the greatest racers of all time—foreran as part of her epic return to the sport. After six years in retirement, the three-time Olympian has returned to World Cup racing after a partial knee replacement less than a year ago that changed the 40-year-old champion’s life.
“I am having so much fun,” said Vonn. “I have no pain and no swelling; and it feels so amazing to be back. I can’t tell you how big of a difference it makes to be able to ski without pain. I haven’t felt this good in 15 years.”
Vonn’s forerunning time in the downhill was reportedly fast enough to have placed her in the top 20 had she been a registered competitor. Her performance in the super-G course was equally strong, helping to raise her confidence as she looks forward to the competition season ahead.
“I had so much fun. I really wished that I was racing but I felt like I was,” said Vonn. “And when I crossed the finish line… I got a cheer just like as if I was racing, and it made today feel really special.”
As for the race, the first-ever Women’s Birds of Prey event lived up to its reputation as one of the toughest tests on the World Cup circuit. In Saturday’s downhill event, Austrian Cornelia Hütter took home the gold, Sofia Goggia of Italy finished second, and Swiss Lara Gut-Behrami took third. Sunday’s super-G saw Sofia Goggia finishing in first, Lara Gut-Behrami in second and Austria’s Ariane Raedler rounding out the podium in third. Vonn’s teammate, 22-year-old Lauren Macuga was the top U.S. skier over the weekend, finishing fourth in the downhill race—just 18 one hundredths of a second shy of becoming the youngest American to make a World Cup downhill podium since Lindsey Vonn in 2006. Macuga finished 12th in the super-G race, also America’s top finisher in that event.
Vonn will make her full World Cup return December 21 and 22, competing in two super-G events in St. Moritz, Switzerland where she has previously won five World Cup titles. With the Olympics in Cortina, Italy just 14 months away, the four-time World Cup Champion with 82 World Cup wins remains modest about her path forward: “I’m really enjoying this journey. No one’s ever done this with a knee replacement before, so I honestly don’t know how far I can take it, but so far it’s been incredible… I am so happy to not be in pain anymore and to do the thing I love most, which is skiing.”
