Lindsey Vonn admits ‘I didn’t help myself’ with social media posts on Mikaela Shiffrin

SAALBACH-HINTERGLEMM, Austria (AP) – Lindsey Vonn apologised for her social media outburst after not being placed with Mikaela Shiffin for Tuesday’s team combined race at the skiing world championships.

United States’ A.J. Hurt and United States’ Lindsey Vonn, right, smile at the finish area of a slalom run of a women’s team combined event, at the Alpine Ski World Championships, in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austria, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)

United States’ Mikaela Shiffrin, top left, and United States’ Breezy Johnson, top right, celebrate with the team after winning the gold medal in a women’s team combined event, at the Alpine Ski World Championships, in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austria, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Giovanni Auletta)

United States’ Lindsey Vonn smiles at the finish area of a downhill run of a women’s team combined event, at the Alpine Ski World Championships, in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austria, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Giovanni Auletta)

United States’ Mikaela Shiffrin, left, and teammate United States’ Breezy Johnson celebrate on the podium after winning the gold medal in a women’s team combined event, at the Alpine Ski World Championships, in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austria, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)

The 40-year-old Vonn had hoped to race alongside Shiffrin in a skiing “dream team” for the new event, which will also make its Olympic debut next year.

Vonn expressed her disgust on X, then known as Twitter, after seeing Shiffrin’s Instagram announcement that she was racing with recently-crowned downhill world champion Breezy Johnson.

“Why am I not surprised?” Vonn posted on X on Monday with a shrug emoji, then deleted it and added another.

“Maybe I didn’t help myself or the team by having my Twitter fingers out,” Vonn joked on Tuesday. “But, at the same time, I am a human being, and I was disappointed by the contact. And I made my feelings clear. I am a human. I have feelings. “So shoot me.”

The new combined event consists of one racer competing in a downhill run and another in a slalom, with the two timings added together to determine the overall results.

Johnson and Shiffrin won gold on Tuesday, while Vonn and her teammate, AJ Hurt, ended 16th after Vonn had a poor downhill run, leaving her team 21st after the morning leg.

Vonn was the only one of the eight American skiers who did not celebrate Johnson and Shiffrin’s podium finishes. She hurried to catch a jet to a ski school event in Switzerland later Tuesday.

Vonn congratulated Johnson and Shiffrin on X, stating “What a team!!!”

Lauren Macuga, another American, led the downhill part, with Johnson finishing fourth.

In downhill, Vonn placed one position ahead of Andorra’s Cande Moreno in a field of 26 starters, 2.51 seconds behind Macuga.

“I was in my tuck pretty much the whole way down and just not accelerating anywhere,” said Vonn, who returned this season after nearly six years out. So I certainly have work to do. I need to experiment with my boots to determine what works best. But it’s difficult to completely change your setup when competing in the world championships.”

The United States team’s coaching staff chose the combined pairs based on “season-best results” in downhill and slalom.

“I didn’t have a problem with the selection process,” Vonn informed the audience. “It was absolutely the right decision. Breezy and Mikaela should be the couple.

“They are the two fastest skiers…” My only complaint was that it was not mentioned to me. I found out about it on Instagram. And I believe it’s a bit unprofessional. It’s as simple as calling or texting. I don’t think that’s a really difficult request.

Vonn said she contacted Shiffrin, who agreed it would be amazing to race together. However, Vonn was then informed that Shiffrin would not be competing in the combined. Vonn only found out about Shiffrin’s ultimate choice to race it via Instagram.

“It would have been cool if those two greats had raced together, but others are currently performing better,” U.S. speed coach Alex Hoedlmoser said. “We had to make sure to bring the fastest pairings together, and it was very obvious that Breezy was the fastest in the downhill and therefore would race with Mikaela.”

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Eric Willemsen, an Associated Press writer in Vienna, contributed to this story.

Andrew Dampf

Dampf has been a sports writer for The Associated Press in Rome for nearly 20 years, covering football, tennis, Alpine skiing and a variety of other events in Italy and throughout the world, including five football World Cups. The Milan-Cortina Games will be his ninth Olympics to report from.