SAALBACH-HINTERGLEMM – When Tom Brady performed within the NFL effectively past the age of 40, he wasn’t thought of loopy for dealing with 300-pound defensive linemen intent on sacking him.
When Lewis Hamilton lately received behind the wheel of a Ferrari Method 1 automobile for the primary time at 40, he wasn’t informed he is too previous for the elite auto racing sequence.
So why did Lindsey Vonn face a lot second guessing in Europe about her comeback to ski racing at age 40 this season?
Possibly it is the speeds in downhill that exceed 80 mph (130 kph). Or perhaps it was due to Vonn’s lengthy historical past of crashes and accidents. Or perhaps it is as a result of no lady of her caliber had ever completed it earlier than — although loads of males have competed efficiently in ski racing past 40.
No matter it was, Vonn has a easy rationalization for why she returned. It has loads to do with the a number of accidents that ended her profession prematurely again in 2019 and the surgical procedure to switch a part of her proper knee with titanium that has her feeling higher than she has since she was in her 20s.
“The why is that I like snowboarding,” Vonn informed The Related Press in a current interview forward of the world championships beginning this week. “The previous couple of years of my profession, I used to be in lots of ache and I used to be coping with lots of accidents. And I haven’t felt this good in a protracted, very long time.
“I’m actually strong. My place is strong. I feel I’m technically really snowboarding higher now than I used to be once I retired,” Vonn added. “However the ‘why’ is simply I like it. I like going quick and I’m nonetheless able to doing it. I do know that I’m nonetheless aggressive. I feel I’ve confirmed already that I’m aggressive. So why not?”
Earlier than Vonn returned in December after almost six years of retirement, two-time Olympic champion Michaela Dorfmeister prompt that the American “ought to see a psychologist,” including on Austrian TV, “Does she wish to kill herself?”
Austrian downhill nice Franz Klammer mentioned “she’s gone fully mad” and four-time total World Cup champion Pirmin Zurbriggen mentioned that Vonn “hasn’t acknowledged the that means and objective of her different life in recent times.”
However Vonn confirmed that she will be able to nonetheless be aggressive when she completed sixth and fourth in a downhill and a super-G in St. Anton, Austria, final month. She’s nonetheless rediscovering her velocity and has had a couple of minor falls throughout her comeback, however she additionally now has had extra time to regain her timing coming into worlds at one other Austrian resort — in Saalbach-Hinterglemm.
“I don’t really feel like I’m 40,” Vonn mentioned. “I feel when you would have requested this query a yr and a half in the past or a yr in the past, I might have mentioned, ‘Yeah, I really feel actually previous.’ However with my knee I really feel so a lot better. And it’s attainable. Something is feasible.”
Apart from Brady and Hamilton, Vonn can be impressed by the way in which Serena Williams excelled even on the finish of her profession close to age 40.
“Tom, Lewis, Serena. They’ve all completed it,” Vonn mentioned. “The assets that athletes have now enable for a greater restoration. So although you’re older, you’re nonetheless recovering quicker than I used to be once I was in my 20s.
Vonn and Shiffrin are each again in time to lend star energy to worlds
Vonn and Mikaela Shiffrin are each again simply in time to lend some severe star energy to the worlds — the most important occasion in snowboarding exterior of the Olympics.
Shiffrin returned to the circuit on Thursday when she positioned tenth in a World Cup slalom in Courchevel, France. It was her first race again in two months after crashing and struggling a deep puncture wound on her aspect.
“I’m catching as much as the quickest on this planet,” Shiffrin mentioned, “so I’ve lots of work to do.”
The 2 People are the winningest feminine racers in World Cup historical past with 99 victories for Shiffrin and 82 for Vonn.
There’s even an opportunity that Vonn and Shiffrin may workforce up within the new workforce mixed occasion that entails one squad member competing in downhill and the opposite in slalom — with their two occasions added collectively to find out the ultimate outcomes.
When it comes to pedigree, there could not be a greater workforce: Vonn is the all-time chief in World Cup downhill victories with 43 and Shiffrin holds the mark in slalom with 62 — each information amongst women and men.
First, although, Vonn will likely be within the highlight throughout her particular person occasions of super-G and downhill on Thursday and Saturday, respectively.
Shiffrin is planning to compete in solely two particular person occasions: the enormous slalom and slalom on Feb. 13 and 15.
The ladies’s workforce mixed occasion is scheduled for Feb. 11.
“All of my teammates have been displaying unimaginable velocity this season, and I might be fortunate and so excited to pair with anybody certainly one of them for workforce mixed if I’m within the place to have the ability to race,” Shiffrin mentioned.
The championships open with a workforce parallel occasion on Tuesday that neither Vonn nor Shiffrin will compete in.
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