Lindsey Vonn is recovering from a fall that nearly cost the decorated alpine skier her leg, but Vonn said this week she hasn’t ruled out a return to the Olympics in 2030, when she would be 45.
In an interview with CNBC Sport, the Olympic gold medalist said she would consider making one last run at the 2030 Winter Olympics — if she could be competitive.
“It’s done,” Vonn said. “If I had to do it, I would only do it if I could be fast. But I don’t know, it’s far away. I would be 45 years old. [during] the next Olympic Games. It might be a little too much, but we’ll see.”
Vonn said she was still using crutches after the accident during her first downhill at the Milan Cortina Olympics in February. She said she expects to be able to walk without assistance by the end of April.
But she still needs surgery later this year, she said, to remove metal from her leg from previous operations over the past two months — she’s now five — and to repair her ACL, which she tore in January, nine days before her Olympic race.
American Lindsey Vonn participates in the second official training of the women’s downhill event ahead of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics at the Tofane Alpine Ski Center in Cortina d’Ampezzo on February 6, 2026.
François-Xavier Marit | AFP | Getty Images
If Vonn were to compete again in 2030, she would be one of the oldest Olympic skiers in history. 46-year-old alpine skier Sarah Schleper finished 26th in the women’s Olympic Super-G in February, competing for Mexico.
Vonn returned last year from an initial retirement that lasted more than five years to become the world’s top-ranked alpine skier ahead of the 2026 Olympics.
A winning effort in Cortina d’Ampezzo would have made Vonn the oldest downhill gold medalist, at the age of 41. Instead, she crashed just 13 seconds into her run.
“I don’t want this to be the last part of my career,” Vonn said. “I just have to wait and see what my body does and how it reacts.”