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MILAN — Lindsey Vonn, still recovering from an ACL repair that follows five prior surgeries, has reportedly informed her camp that she is not currently planning a comeback — she is planning a comeback timeline, with a target return roughly nine years out, by which point she will be 50.
Despite then being 50 years old, having undergone several major surgeries and having reached the point in life where most people regard a flight of stairs as an alpine challenge, she is reportedly looking ahead regardless.
Vonn, who has already retired from skiing, returned from retirement, competed right before the Olympics, crashed, underwent five surgeries, nearly lost her leg and is still awaiting ACL surgery, is now said to be considering another comeback.
Taking it easier
Doctors have advised her to take it easy. According to people familiar with her rehabilitation, the current program consists of strengthening the left leg, strengthening the right leg, strengthening the left leg again, and periodically checking a calendar that currently ends in 2035.
It is understood the ACL operation could be followed by another nine months of recovery, at which point Vonn will be approximately 51. Her team has reportedly filed this under "acceptable," noting only that "a long offseason was always part of the plan anyway."
The sponsors are already planning the planning
Apparel brands, having already run "comeback" campaigns for Vonn twice, are reportedly drafting a third for an event not scheduled until the next decade.
"We've booked a creative team for a launch nine years out," said one marketing director. "Half of them weren't born when she won her first World Cup. We told them not to worry — by the time this airs, neither will half our audience."
The scheduling is getting complicated
Vonn's team, currently focused on a single ACL repair with a nine-month recovery window, has reportedly asked that the nine-year plan not be discussed in the same meeting as the nine-month plan.
"We're trying to get her through Tuesday," said one team representative. "She's already discussing 2035."
Vonn remains unconcerned
Vonn has repeatedly said she does not know whether she will race again.
"I may retire. I may never race again and that would be completely fine," she told the Associated Press in April. "But I'm not in a position emotionally to make that decision at this point."
She may wake up one morning, look at a mountain and decide that the only reasonable response to five surgeries is to point two skis downhill at 120 kilometers per hour. Or she may not. Her camp says even her ACL doesn't know yet.
But one thing is already clear: at 50, Lindsey Vonn would not merely be making a comeback. She would be returning to professional skiing at an age when most people have stopped saying "I'll just carry the skis" and started saying "where's the gondola?"
The long view
Vonn's camp says no comeback has been committed to — the possibility is simply being kept open, a distinction that has confused people used to comeback announcements following an actual decision to come back.
"At this rate the announcement could itself require a comeback," said one sports executive.
Her official position is that she'll see how the recovery goes. The recovery, for its part, has reportedly been informed it has until 2035.