Lindsey Vonn turned 31 this week with renewed confidence in her ability to regain her stature as the world’s best female ski racer, a far different frame of mind from where she was a year ago.
Then she was coming back after two years away because of knee surgeries. She was hopeful of winning medals in the world championships at Beaver Creek in February but unsure of herself.
Now, having had a normal summer of training for the first time in three years, she feels ready to challenge again for the World Cup overall title, which she has won four times. She also has a more single-minded focus after breaking up with golfer Tiger Woods in May.
“I’ve been through some personal difficulties, and it was a hard time, but in the end ultimately it gave me more opportunities to focus on myself and getting stronger, mentally and physically,” Vonn said in a telephone interview this week. “I’m in a really good place right now. I’m 100 percent focused on my skiing and my career. I think it’s going to be a really great season.”
Vonn blew out her right knee at the 2013 world championships and tried to come back for the 2014 Olympics but reinjured the knee. She came back last year and won eight World Cup races, pushing her past Austria’s Annemarie Moser-Proell to , but the knee was still an issue. In the world championships .
“I’m coming into this season in a totally different place,” Vonn said. “Last year was my comeback year, I’d been out for a long time, I had minimal training. I definitely struggled with my timing and my rhythm in some of the speed races. This year I’m already so much farther ahead … I know my capabilities, I know where I stand, as a opposed to last year where I went into (the first downhill races) having no idea if I was going to be fast or slow.”
Two women who could have been Vonn’s most serious rivals for the overall won’t be racing. Austria’s Anna Fenninger ruptured the ACL and patellar tendon in her right knee on Wednesday while training in Soelden, Austria, for the season-opening giant slalom races there this weekend. Slovenia’s Tina Maze previously announced she is taking the year off.
After Vonn was injured in 2013, Maze won the overall. Fenninger won it the past two seasons.
“I’m definitely motivated to try to get the overall title back,” Vonn said. “It’s a difficult title to win, I think the most difficult in ski racing, but I’ve done it a few times and I know what it takes. I think that experience gives me a pretty big advantage over my competitors, and I’m exceptionally motivated.”
Vonn fractured her left ankle two months ago after hooking a tip training giant slalom in New Zealand but says she doesn’t foresee that being a problem. She returns to snow this week and is undecided about racing this weekend, but she will be ready to race Thanksgiving weekend in Aspen. A week later she will race downhill and super-G at Lake Louise, Alberta, where she has collected 15 of her 67 World Cup wins.
Having spent nearly half her life as a World Cup racer, Vonn is still hungry.
“I’ve never struggled with motivation or desire or determination,” Vonn said. “Those have always been the part of my personality that drives me and makes me successful. If those things start to dwindle, then I should retire, but I’m not even close to that point. I’m just as motivated as ever, maybe more so.”
Vonn said her breakup with Woods was “really hard, and it’s still hard,” but she has moved on. She spent a lot of time in Vail this summer with her brother and has a good support system of family and friends.
“I don’t think you really ever get over something like that,” Vonn said. “It’s been difficult, but also a time for personal growth for me. I feel pretty good right now.”
John Meyer: jmeyer@denverpost.com or @johnmeyer
