ST. MORITZ, Switzerland (AP) — When Lindsey Vonn last raced on the World Cup circuit nearly six years ago, the constant pain in her knee left her in tears and led to retirement.
Flash forward to Vonn’s comeback race on a titanium knee at age 40 last weekend, and the American skiing standout couldn’t have felt more different.
No more pain. No more swelling. No more tears.
“The last few years of my career were so much different than they are right now. I’m skiing without thinking about my knee, which I really haven’t done since I first tore my ACL in 2013. So it’s been a long time that I felt this good,” Vonn said Saturday after placing 14th in a super-G in St. Moritz. “I’m a little bit older, but honestly I’m a hell of a lot stronger than I once was.”
So much stronger that she’s talking up her knee replacement surgery — the first of its kind in World Cup skiing — as a new frontier for the sport.
In April, Vonn had a robot-assisted replacement performed by Martin Roche, a South Florida-based orthopedist specializing in complex knee disorders. Part of the bone in her right knee was cut off and replaced by two titanium pieces. A month later, she was planning her comeback.
“It’s a lot better than my non-existent cartilage,” said Vonn, one of the most successful skiers of all time with 82 World Cup wins. “I’ve talked to a lot of skiers already about it and I really think that it could be something that should be considered.
“I feel amazing. I mean, obviously not everyone responds the same way to surgeries. For some reason, I bounce back pretty well from surgery. But I think it’s something to seriously consider for athletes that have a lot of knee problems.”