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Lindsey Vonn likely to push back retirement following winning start to Olympic season at age 41

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They said she “should see a psychologist,” had “gone completely mad” and hadn’t “recognized the meaning and purpose of her other life” away from skiing.

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Well, Lindsey Vonn’s return to downhill racing on her titanium knee doesn’t seem so crazy now.

Not after she dominated the opening speed weekend of the Olympic season, won the first downhill by a huge margin and gained more points than any other skier over three days of World Cup racing.

At age 41.

“All the people that didn’t believe in me, I have to thank them because it really gives me a lot of motivation,” Vonn said.

“I’m surprised that people haven’t figured that out by now. That every time you talk bad about me it just makes me stronger and better and more motivated. So I would love for people to keep coming at me. It would be great. Motivate me even more.”

A year ago, when Vonn was preparing to race again after nearly six years of retirement, two-time Olympic champion Michaela Dorfmeister suggested 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 added that Vonn “hasn’t recognized the meaning and purpose of her other life in recent years.”

After all, the risks are high in a sport where skiers hurl themselves down icy mountains at speeds of 130 kph (80 mph) with little protection besides a helmet, a back protector and a safety air bag system under their suits.

But Vonn looked more composed and stable than skiers half her age on the Corviglia course in St. Moritz, Switzerland.

LeBron James shares solidarity with Vonn

When Vonn won Friday’s downhill by 0.98 seconds — an eternity in a sport often decided by mere hundredths — she was emboldened enough to shape her hands in a sleeping gesture in the style of NBA star Stephen Curry’s “Night, night” gesture.

In other words, she felt she had just put the rest of the field to rest when she became the oldest winner in World Cup history — among men and women.

The performance and gesture got some attention in the NBA.

“40+ is the new 20. Well, until you wake up the next day!” 40-year-old Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James said on Instagram.

Goggia’s pacifier

Fellow downhiller Sofia Goggia, the 2018 Olympic champion, said on Friday that Vonn “took us all to school and left us with a pacifier (baby’s dummy) in our mouths.”

The next day, Goggia backed up her comments and put a pacifier in her mouth while standing next to Vonn.

Vonn also finished second in another downhill on Saturday despite a big mistake midway down, then placed fourth in a super-G on Sunday. In all, she earned a weekend-best 230 World Cup points — 60 more than Goggia and 85 more than Emma Aicher, the 22-year-old German who won Saturday’s race..

She “raised the bar for every athlete in downhill and super-G,” Goggia said.

Pushing back retirement

Vonn’s performance has her reconsidering her plans.

Instead of going back into retirement immediately after the Milan Cortina Winter Games in February, she’ll likely ski on through the end of the World Cup season in March.

“I think I might need to change my approach,” she said.

Vonn’s head coach Chris Knight said: “We can start planning for the whole season.”

Having figured out her equipment and with improved fitness from last season — she added 12 pounds (5.5 kilograms) of muscle to her frame — Knight believes Vonn can perform at this level every weekend.

“It’s just about managing the load, the training and the recovery time,” Knight told The Associated Press. “It’s almost recovery is more important right now because she’s in a really good place with the skiing.”

Dream team with Shiffrin

Women’s Alpine skiing at the Olympics will be held in Cortina d’Ampezzo, where Vonn holds the record with 12 World Cup wins.

Besides downhill and super-G on her Olympic program, Vonn also plans to enter the new team combined — which features two-person teams with one competitor racing a downhill run and another performing a slalom run.

Vonn campaigned to pair with slalom standout Mikaela Shiffrin at last year’s world championships but her performances then didn’t merit that chance. Shiffrin won gold with Breezy Johnson instead.

 

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Paige Spiranac’s surprising NFL fandom confession triggers heated debate over loyalty, authenticity, and fan culture

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The 2026 NFL Draft starts Thursday night in Pittsburgh, and the spotlight isn’t only on prospects and front offices. Golf influencer Paige Spiranac has again found herself pulled into NFL conversation, this time for her open support of multiple teams.

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With the Steelers hosting the first round, her long-standing connection to Pittsburgh has resurfaced. But it’s not just about hometown ties. Her broader fandom, which stretches beyond one franchise, continues to draw mixed reactions at a time when fan loyalty is often treated as non-negotiable.

Paige Spiranac roots for 2 NFL teams: Who are they?

Paige Spiranac has never hidden where her loyalties lie, even if they don’t fit the usual mold. She has consistently pointed to her roots while leaving space for other allegiances.

“Both my parents are from Pittsburgh so I’ve been a Steelers ..fan since the day I was born. I also love the Bills. It’s a complicated relationship…Who’s your team?” she previously asked her followers. It’s a candid admission, one that reflects personal history more than calculated fandom.

Still, the reaction has been sharp. NFL culture tends to rew ..

 

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Quiet moments on the course can say a lot about what’s coming next.

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Sometimes the most important work happens when nobody is really watching.
Lexi Thompson was out on the 18th green, working through her putting during a practice round ahead of the Chevron Championship in Houston.

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It’s a simple scene, but it shows the kind of quiet preparation that goes into these big tournaments—getting the feel of the greens, adjusting to conditions, and building trust in every stroke.

These are the small details that can shape how a player starts when the pressure kicks in.

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Predicting what will happen to Bryson DeChambeau and Phil Mickelson if LIV Golf collapses

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It looks like LIV Golf is over.

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The Saudi Public Investment Fund has reportedly decided that this league simply isn’t worth the hole it’s burning in their pocket, and they’re pulling funds at the end of 2026.

That gives them less than a year to seek new investment. While CEO Scott O’Neil seems confident, it’s going to be extremely difficult to secure funding for a league that is operating at such eye-watering losses.

So this probably pulls the curtain closed on one of the most turbulent, frustrating, confusing, and ridiculous eras in golfing history. Hopefully, we can all return to some reality after the year is over.

But there is still so much uncertainty surrounding golf’s future thanks to this. Brooks Koepka and Patrick Reed saw the signs early and jumped ship, but they did that with some leverage. So what on earth is going to happen to the rest of these players who didn’t take the olive branch when it was offered to them?

Feelings will be hurt, and careers will be ended. Let’s take a look.

Jon Rahm rejoins the PGA Tour

Koepka returned to the PGA Tour under the returning member program, which saw him pay $5 million to charity, accept that he’ll receive no FedEx Cup bonus money, and agree he cannot be a sponsor exemption for the 2026 signature events.

 

That same deal was offered to Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau. They didn’t accept it, but a similar offer will likely be handed out to them again.

 

If LIV Golf folds, Rahm will not hold the same leverage as Koepka did, but he is a bigger star at this stage of his career. Make no mistake, the PGA Tour will want him back immediately.

But Rahm does risk leaving himself without any options at all. Reed didn’t come straight back to the PGA Tour, so he’s spending a year on the DP World Tour first. You’d imagine Rahm would consider doing the same, but it might not be so easy for him.

Rahm is in a feud with the DP World Tour, as the only one of eight players to reject a deal which would have seen him retain his full-time membership. If Rahm agreed to play in six DP World Tour events this year, then he could have played on both LIV Golf and the tour. He did not agree.

For now, his membership is at risk. So, will it be possible for him to spend a season on the DP World Tour like Reed? Maybe not. That makes it all the more likely that Rahm will be back on the PGA Tour the moment LIV folds.

Bryson DeChambeau does YouTube full-time

With DeChambeau, I don’t think it’s as much of a done deal that he returns to the PGA Tour. Not immediately anyway.

He’s been negotiating his contract with LIV, which expires at the end of this season. During these negotiations, he’s made it very clear that he is completely willing to step away from full-time competition and be a full-time YouTuber.

DeChambeau’s channel has over two million subscribers, so he could feasibly do that with all of the money he’s making there.

He was annoyed to see LIV move to a four-day format, so he could commit himself fully to being the content king. It would be a wild thing to do, but it’s also exactly the kind of move you could see the two-time major winner making.

He could qualify for The Open Championship and the US Open, and earn enough points there to play The Masters and the PGA Championship. It’s possible.

He does seem to live for competition, so maybe YouTube won’t quite scratch the itch, but it is on the table for DeChambeau. At least for a year until his suspension expires. Out of Rahm and DeChambeau, the American is absolutely the least likely to take a deal.

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