Much has been written about whether Lindsey Vonn at the age of 41 should have been competing at the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics? There are been calls saying that she deprived a younger racer of a place at the Greatest Show on Earth. There are arguments for and against, we look at a few of the points.
Firstly, no matter what the age of the athlete, they have to qualify. Every nation's National Olympic Committee (NOC) will set standards that athletes have to achieve in order to be considered for selection. For the 2026 Winter Olympics, U.S. alpine skiers are selected based on objective criteria focusing on top-30 World Cup results, FIS point rankings, and World Cup Starts (WCSL) points between July 1, 2024, and January 18, 2026.
Vonn won two World Cup races that fell inside the qualifying period and thus EARNED her right to be selected. There are some who argued that Vonn deprived a younger racer of the opportunity to compete at the 2026 Winter Olympic Games. This was Vonn's sixth Winter Olympics. She competed in Salt Lake City in 2002, best of sixth in the Combined; then it was off to Turin in 2006 with a best of 7th in the Super G (she competed in all five races); Whistler in 2010 saw her take Gold in Downhill and bronze in Super G as she again raced all five races; Pyeongchang saw her take another bronze, Downhill this time and then it was to Cortina for a last opportunity.
Vonn is a team player and this was her goal to race and be competitive, not just to make up the numbers.
All American racers had the same criteria and if one of the other aspiring athletes had made the criteria, the call then would have been tough. Vonn leads the Downhill World Cup so is definitely not pushing another out, if anything she is inspiring younger racers that they can still race long after they pass the perceived "retirement barrier" of 30.
If people think that Vonn is too old then what will they think of 52 year old Anna Gasser in the Snowboard Parallel GS? Gasser qualified for the knock out stages and had the misfortune to come up against defending champion Esther Ledecka in the round of 16. Ledecka took the win by just 1,13 seconds.
Alpine does have others that prove that age is no barrier to competing and challenging.
The Italian Super G team included Christof Innerhofer. At 41 Innerhofer has been asked at the end of each season for the last few years, if this is his last season. Innerhofer had a goal of making it to race in Bormio at a home Olympics and he battled away and made the team. He was not just there for the numbers and Innerhofer finished in 11th in the Super G. A truly magnificent effort against some racers over twenty years younger than him!
Innerhofer's teammate, Dominik Paris won the bronze in the Men's Downhill at the age of 36, was he too old to have been included in the Italian Downhill team?
Mexican Sarah Schleper is in her seventh Games, the first four were for the US and then she married a Mexican and these were her third for Mexico. This time she is also part of a Mexico team that includes her son!
Then there is of course Dave Ryding for Great Britain. Ryding is 39 and has already announced these will be his last Olympics as he retires at the end of the season. Ryding is joined by two other British racers in the team and some argued that Great Britain should have sent some younger racers to blood them ready for the 2030 Olympics. Ryding is still plying his trade at the top of the table and it is up to the younger racers to qualify in their own right.
Sport is brutal, every Olympian wants to take home a medal but age is not a barrier to competing. If you are good enough, your age should not preclude you from competing. Desire, determination, fire are more important than age.
Picture Agence Zoom from Crans Montana of Lindsey Vonn