Retirement rumors around Lindsey Vonn had grown so loud that she had to break her silence. Responding to a fan account hinting at the end of her career, she recently shot back, “Who said I was retiring?” But despite this, the speculation and criticism that started since her Winter Olympics crash and surgeries has not stopped, with Vonn now pointing to what she believes is sexism in the sport.

The conversation began when an X account named @FanCovTeamUSA shared their perspective on the backlash that Vonn’s been receiving for taking a stand about her future.

“I genuinely wonder if Lindsey Vonn was a guy, if she would get the same hate for not ruling out retiring. You guys are being insanely annoying,” the fan wrote.

It did not take long for Lindsey to respond. “I wouldn’t,” she wrote in agreement with the fan’s stance.

She continued, “It would most likely be the exact opposite reaction. Similar to when I announced my comeback the same year as Hirscher. He was met with praise and I was met with cynicism and personal attacks.” And many in the skiing world remember that moment,” pointing out the disparity.

When Lindsey Vonn officially announced her return to competitive skiing in November 2024, after undergoing a partial knee replacement earlier that year, her comeback at 40 did not sit well with many.

A former female Austrian skier, Michaela Dorfmeister, strongly criticized her, “She should see a psychologist. Does she want to kill herself?” Former skier and Olympic champion Franz Klammer was equally critical, stating Vonn had “gone completely mad.”

Interestingly, around the same time, another skiing icon, Marcel Hirscher, returned to the World Cup in October 2024, five years after retiring from the sport at the age of 35. But Vonn highlighted even in 2025 that he wasn’t lambasted.

“No one asked Marcel (Hirscher) if his life was fulfilled outside of ski racing, or if he needed to see a psychologist,” she said in 2025.

The eight-time overall World Cup champion, Hischer’s comeback was widely celebrated. Media headlines described it as a “sensational comeback,” while fans welcomed the news with “Massive respect to Hirscher.”

In contrast, Lindsey Vonn’s return was being criticized. To an extent that Hirscher, Vonn’s close friend, himself even noticed the difference in how the two returns were received. “From my point of view, it is very unfair. I can’t understand those messages because for me it is just inspiring.”

However, the conversation around sexism in sports did not begin with this debate. In a 2022 interview with Sky Sports, Vonn explained how success for women in sports is sometimes judged differently.

“When a woman’s successful and pretty, people say she only gets things because she’s pretty. And that conversation would never be had on the men’s side,” she had pointed.

However, Lindsey Vonn isn’t the only one. Another skier faced such kind of criticism in 2022.

Shiffrin echoes Lindsey Vonn’s stance on gender bias in Olympic skiing

In 2022, Mikaela Shiffrin faced one of the harshest public moments of her career. After failing to finish two of her best events at the Beijing Winter Olympics, NBC cameras captured her sitting alone on the course for more than 20 minutes, head bowed, visibly upset.

Fans and commentators debated whether a male athlete would face the same scrutiny. One X user wrote that the network was “shaming” Shiffrin, while another accused it of “torturing” her.

But at that time, NBC defended its coverage. Molly Solomon, executive producer of NBC’s Olympic broadcast at that time, said, “We have an obligation in that moment… to cover the moment. There’s no script when there’s a wipeout on the slopes or a fall in figure skating. We’re watching real people with real emotions in real time, and we did everything we were supposed to do.”

She also acknowledged the double standard in women’s sports coverage: “Here we are in 2022 and we have a double standard in coverage of women’s sports. Women’s sports should be analyzed through the same lens as the men.”

Even after this, Shiffrin experienced firsthand how women athletes are often judged more harshly.

“Yes for sure, there is a lack of recognition for women’s performances… Shiffrin said in another interview in 2018. “There are some circumstances where it is kind of a chauvinistic environment,” she spoke about the world cup circuit.

The experiences of both Lindsey Vonn and Mikaela Shiffrin make a bigger point: female athletes in elite sports still have to endure gendered expectations that increase criticism and minimize success.