'People doubted me'

The 82-time World Cup winner returned to the World Cup circuit in December 2024, finishing 14th in the super-G at St Moritz, Switzerland, and earned a pair of top-10 finishes in the downhill and super-G a month later in St Anton, Austria.

But critics soon followed, as she crashed out at Cortina and failed to finish at Garmisch-Partenkirchen weeks later.

"A lot of people doubted me. I never doubted myself, but at the same time, with all the negative voices, sometimes it was hard to hear my own voice," said Vonn, who won gold in the downhill at the 2010 Vancouver Games.

Her breakthrough moment came in March, when, in Sun Valley, Idaho, she got on the podium for the first time since her retirement, finishing second in the super-G at the Women's World Cup Finals — a moment that she says "changed everything".

"When I crossed the finish line and saw the No 2 next to my name, I lost it," she told reporters on Tuesday.

"The only race that was more emotional for me was winning the Olympics. That's how special it was."

Vonn, whose women's World Cup wins record was eclipsed by compatriot Mikaela Shiffrin in 2023, is now aiming to become the oldest woman to medal in Olympic alpine skiing if she qualifies.

"I do like breaking records, so even if it's an 'old woman' record, I'd take it," said Vonn, who took Norwegian former Olympic champion Aksel Lund Svindal on as a coach in August.

"I'm in a much better place than I ever have been, and I'm excited to be standing in the starting gate with that perspective."

'Bullish as ever'

The United States is as "bullish as ever" about its medal chances.

It will send 294 competitors to Milano-Cortina 2026 — 225 Olympic and 69 Paralympic — but only a small fraction of those have qualified so far, the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee's chief of Sport &Athlete Services Rocky Harris said.

"We have a lot of work to do in the next 100 days to get the full team there," said Harris. "Across the board, we have really put a focus on winter sport."

While the large and well-funded US delegation frequently tops the medal table at the Summer Games, it has only done so once at the Winter Olympics, way back in 1932.

The US finished third on the medal table at Beijing 2022.

"It's game time," said USOPC CEO Sarah Hirshland. "We're very, very encouraged by what Team USA promises to be by the time we get to Milano-Cortina. We're feeling, I think, as bullish as ever about the winter team."

Olympic veterans and newcomers descended on New York City this week for a massive publicity blitz at the Team USA Summit, where dozens of athletes were expected to shuffle through a gauntlet of media interviews.

"There's a lot of hype, I think, and you feel it around the US athletes," said bronze-medalist figure skater Jason Brown, who hopes to compete in his third Games at Milano-Cortina.

"Also, it's so special to all get together in one spot to celebrate this moment, knowing that, hopefully, the next time we're all together will be in Milan."

The Milano-Cortina Games run from Feb 6 to Feb 22.

Agencies