Out of retirement: Lindsey Vonn returns to US Ski Team

Lindsey Vonn is back on the slopes and has joined the US Ski Team more than five years after she retired.

The gold medal winner left the sport after too many injuries to her right knee that could not handle competitive skiing, The New York Times reported.

She said that at the time, she didn’t plan on coming back, but after knee replacement surgery seven months ago, she started skiing after a 10-week recovery and it was surprisingly pain-free, she said.

Vonn last competed in February 2019, NBC News reported. She won a bronze medal in the women’s downhill at the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships in Sweden. She announced her retirement before that competition but still became the oldest woman to win a medal at a world championship.

“The unfortunate reality is my mind and body are not on the same page. After many sleepless nights, I have finally accepted that I cannot continue ski racing,” she wrote at the time, NBC News reported.

But now that she’s back on her skis, she couldn’t be happier.

“I had a smile so wide it was coming through the back of my helmet,” Vonn told the Times.

Now at the age of 40, she has returned to the ski team that brought her three Olympic medals. She hopes to race at the World Cup events. She has already done 15 days of on-snow race training since August and will participate in the team training sessions in Colorado starting Saturday. Vonn will be working on super-G and downhill, two speed races.

“I’m trying not to get too far ahead of myself because I have quite a few hoops to jump through,” Vonn told the newspaper. “Obviously, I wouldn’t be doing this if I didn’t hope to be racing. I have aspirations. I love to go fast. How fast can I go? I don’t know.

“But I’m not going to put myself in a position to fail. My goal is to enjoy this, and hopefully, that road takes me to World Cup races. I wouldn’t be back on the U.S. ski team if I didn’t have intentions.”

If she makes it, the 2026 Winter Olympics will be her fifth trip to the games.

“I’m not chasing anything; I’m not trying to prove anything to anyone,” Vonn said. “With what I’ve done in my career, I’m thankful I can be in this position. I don’t have any pressure. It’s just me and the mountain like it was in the beginning.”