Olympic champion Lindsey Vonn is ending her retirement at age 40 to make a skiing comeback

PARK CITY, Utah (AP) — Lindsey Vonn is coming out of retirement to rejoin the U.S. Ski Team, she announced Thursday, intending to race again at age 40 — and six years after her last Olympics.

Vonn is a three-time Olympic medalist, including a downhill gold and super-G bronze at the 2010 Vancouver Games, and a bronze in the downhill at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games. She is also a four-time overall World Cup champion and owns eight world championships medals.

Her 82 World Cup race victories stood as the record for a woman until that total was eclipsed in January 2023 by American Mikaela Shiffrin, who is still active and is now up to 97 wins — more than any Alpine ski racer in the history of the sport.

Before eclipsing Vonn’s total, Shiffrin said: “I don’t know if I could fill Lindsey’s shoes, the way that she has worn them.”

Vonn’s last competition came in February 2019, after she dealt with a long series of injuries throughout her career.

There were broken arms and legs, torn knee ligaments, concussions and more.

Just this April, years after leaving the World Cup circuit, she had surgery for a partial knee replacement.

Vonn has been training in recent months, U.S. Ski & Snowboard said Thursday.

“Getting back to skiing without pain has been an incredible journey,” Vonn said, adding that she wants to “continue to share my knowledge of the sport with these incredible women” on the American roster.

Vonn is back with the team effective immediately, but it is not yet known which particular races she will be aiming to enter. The first downhill — her specialty — during the current World Cup season will be held at Beaver Creek, Colorado, in December.

U.S. Ski & Snowboard president and CEO Sophie Goldschmidt said Vonn’s “dedication and passion towards Alpine skiing is inspiring, and we’re excited to have her back on snow and see where she can go from here.”

The next Winter Olympics are in Italy in February 2026, and while it’s not clear whether Vonn plans to participate, the women’s Alpine skiing events will be held in Cortina d’Ampezzo on the course where she holds the record of 12 victories.

Vonn can benefit from the International Ski and Snowboard Federation’s new wild-card rule, which allows former champions to get decent starting numbers for races if they come out of retirement — without having to regain ranking points in lower-level races.

Eight-time overall World Cup champion Marcel Hirscher took advantage of the new rule and recently returned after five years away.

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AP skiing: https://apnews.com/hub/alpine-skiing