Lindsey Vonn faces more criticism for competing at age 40 than Tom Brady, Lewis Hamilton

SAALBACH-HINTERGLEMM, Austria (AP) — When Tom Brady played in the NFL well beyond the age of 40, he wasn't considered crazy for facing 300-pound defensive linemen intent on sacking him.

When Lewis Hamilton recently got behind the wheel of a Ferrari Formula 1 car for the first time at 40, he wasn't told he's too old for the elite auto racing series.

Marcel Hirscher didn't get nearly as many pointed questions when he recently returned to ski racing after five seasons away.

So why did Lindsey Vonn face so much second guessing in Europe about her comeback at age 40 this season after spending the same time away from the sport as Hirscher?

Before Vonn returned in December, two-time Olympic champion Michaela Dorfmeister suggested that the American “should see a psychologist,” adding on Austrian TV, “Does she want to kill herself?”

Austrian downhill great Franz Klammer said “she’s gone completely mad” and four-time overall World Cup champion Pirmin Zurbriggen said that Vonn “hasn’t recognized the meaning and purpose of her other life in recent years.”

“I don’t think I really deserved the disrespectful comments to the degree that they were given. I of course expected criticism in that, ‘Is my knee safe?’ That’s a valid question," Vonn said Monday when she arrived at the world championships, referring to her reconstructed right knee that is now partially titanium.

“But there were a lot of questions that had to do with me as a person and my psychological state and what life is outside of skiing. And that was completely inappropriate and disrespectful and I didn’t deserve it,” Vonn added. " And honestly, no one deserved it. But no one asked Marcel those questions. No one asked Marcel if his life is fulfilled outside of ski racing or if he needed to see a psychologist. That was only directed at me. And that’s pretty (messed) up.”

While Hirscher specializes in the less dangerous disciplines of slalom and giant slalom, Vonn races downhill and super-G, where speeds top 80 mph (130 kph).

But plenty of men have raced in downhill past the age of 40. In January 2023, 42-year-old Johan Clarey finished second in the famed Hahnenkamm downhill in Kitzbuehel, Austria — setting the record for the oldest podium finisher.

Vonn showed that she can still be competitive when she finished sixth and fourth in a downhill and a super-G in St. Anton, Austria, last month. She's still rediscovering her speed and has had a few minor falls during her comeback, but she also now has had more time to regain her timing entering worlds at another Austrian resort — in Saalbach-Hinterglemm.

As for the response to her return back home in the U.S., Vonn said it was “amazing.”

“Everyone has been really supportive. It’s honestly only in Europe that I’ve had any sort of criticism,” Vonn said.

“A lot of women my age are really, really happy that I’m doing what I’m doing. It means a lot for them," Vonn added. "I think it means something for women, too, that we can still pursue our dreams regardless of our age. We don’t have to be doing a certain thing by a certain time. We can still be ambitious. Just because we’re 40 doesn’t mean it’s over.”

Vonn wants to team with Shiffrin in the new combined event at worlds

Besides her two individual events of super-G and downhill, Vonn also wants to combine forces with Mikaela Shiffrin the new team combined event next week.

The women's event, which will be held on Feb. 11, entails one squad member competing in downhill and the other in slalom — with their two times added together to determine the final results.

Shiffrin and Vonn are the winningest female racers in World Cup history with 99 victories for Shiffrin and 82 for Vonn. Vonn is the all-time leader in World Cup downhill victories with 43 and Shiffrin holds the mark in slalom with 62 — both records among men and women.

“I think it would be probably one of the coolest things in ski racing to have 181 World Cup victories on one team,” Vonn said. “I don’t see how that wouldn’t be incredible. I don’t know how she is physically, I haven’t talked to her because she just came back. So I don’t know if she’s even competing in the combined. But if there is a chance to compete with her, I would absolutely love to.”

Shiffrin returned to the circuit last week when she placed 10th in a World Cup slalom in Courchevel, France. It was her first race back in two months after crashing and suffering a deep puncture wound on her side.

If Shiffrin isn't ready for the combined, Vonn suggested she could team up with Paula Moltzan. Both Vonn and Moltzan grew up skiing at Buck Hill in Minnesota.

“We’re from the same small town,” Vonn said. “That would be really cool to to race with her. But I would be happy with any of my teammates to compete with.”

The championships open with a team parallel event on Tuesday that neither Vonn nor Shiffrin will compete in.

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