Lindsey Vonn has 24 years of memories at Cortina as an Olympic guest, many of them sentimental or historical

His first career podium. The Women’s World Cup wins by a landslide. A record of 12 victories. Family reunions with the sister living in Italy. And a rare European visit from his mother.

Lindsey Vonn is trying to recover from a left knee injury in time to try to win an Olympic medal next weekend at age 41.

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One of the main reasons she returned after nearly six years of retirement – and what motivates her now – is that she wants to return to the city that hosts the women’s competitions at the Milan Cortina Winter Games.

Vonn is the queen of Cortina d’Ampezzo, the town known as “the Queen of the Dolomites”. His memories date back almost a quarter of a century.

“I don’t think I would have attempted this comeback if the Olympics hadn’t been in Cortina,” Vonn said before his injury. “If it had been anywhere else, I would probably say it’s not worth it. But for me, Cortina has something special that always brings me back and brought me back one last time.”

Vonn recently looked back on his career in Cortina during an interview with The Associated Press:

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An unfinished debut almost a quarter of a century ago

Vonn’s first race in Cortina dates back to January 2002, before some of his current competitors were even born.

Approaching what would be her first Olympics a month later, at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games, Vonn’s Cortina debut was a World Cup super-G and she didn’t finish it.

“I was skiing pretty good at the time, but I couldn’t put it all together,” he said. “And I remember in Cortina I was nervous about making the Olympic team. I don’t think I skied badly. But I didn’t finish, so I definitely hadn’t put all the pieces together at that point.”

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Relegated to the lower skiing leagues

Vonn’s Cortina record does not have an entry for 2003.

Why?

“Oh, I got demoted,” she said. “I got sent back to the Europa Cup. They definitely put all their weight behind Julia (Mancuso),” referring to the “minor league” skiing circuit and her former teammate.

“At that point I wasn’t 100% committed to speed… I had run more technical races than speed, so I still wasn’t sure where I would fit in and I was still very thin at the time and was just trying to figure it all out.”

Vonn’s demotion motivated her to hire a physical trainer and get back into shape.

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A memorable video session with a trusted coach

It turns out it didn’t take Vonn long “to figure it all out.”

When he returned to Cortina in 2004, Vonn recorded the first World Cup podium of his career.

In the first of two downhills that weekend, Vonn finished fifth in what was her first time downhill on the Olympia delle Tofane course.

The next day, she finished third in a race won by then-Olympic champion Carole Montillet. Lindsey Kildow, as she was still called, placed 0.24 seconds behind and just a hundredth behind runner-up Renate Goetschl.

“Cortina was really the turning point for me. It’s really where I solidified my mental and physical routine,” Vonn said. “That was the first time I really felt confident enough in what I was doing to belong on the podium.”

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It was a video session with Alex Hoedlmoser — who has coached Vonn since she was 16 and still coaches her with the U.S. team — after Vonn’s fifth-place finish that sparked something in her.

“He said to me, ‘See, it wasn’t that hard, was it?’ And I thought, “No, I can do that.” And he said, ‘Yes, you can,'” Vonn said. “I remember it very vividly.

“And then when I got on the podium, it was a wonderful feeling, and I remember calling my dad, my grandparents, and my mom, and crying, and it was a really special moment, and really a turning point for me in my career, where I really believed I could be among the best in the world.”

A comfort zone that it shares only with Lake Louise

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Vonn won her first race in Cortina only in 2008. But since that podium in 2004 she has felt comfortable there.

“It’s kind of like Lake Louise, where I don’t have to think about it too much,” Vonn said, referring to the Canadian resort where he has won 18 races. “I know where to go, I know what it takes, and it’s a very special place for me and no matter how many wins or losses I have there, that won’t change.”

A family reunion for a record-breaking weekend

While Tiger Woods may have stolen the show, what Vonn likes to remember when he broke Annemarie Moser-Pröll’s record of 35 World Cup victories in 2015 with victory no. 63, in Cortina, is that she was surrounded by her family.

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“I have a big family and unfortunately they have never come to any World Cups in my career,” Vonn said. “It was a really special weekend. My father, his wife, my mother and her husband, my sister Laura, were there. It was really special. I don’t have many photos or memories of my family at the World Cup races. We have the Olympics, but even then my whole family isn’t there. So I really appreciated that weekend.”

Vonn’s younger sister Laura was then living in Florence and the brothers met annually in Cortina. Vonn’s mother, Lindy, died in 2022 from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), otherwise known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.

“It’s nice,” Vonn said of the 2015 race, “to be able to look back and remind myself of those memories.”

Tears, pain and retirement in 2019. And now back again

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It wasn’t all joy for Vonn in Cortina.

There were also tears when he wrestled there in 2019, realizing he would soon have to retire due to pain in his knees and joints.

After undergoing a partial right knee joint replacement, Vonn returned to racing last season and is now returning to Cortina with the aim of adding some new entries to her career record there, if her left knee allows.

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AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics