By Skiing great Lindsey Vonn has announced that she will make her World Cup return at St Moritz, Switzerland next weekend.
In a video posted by her sponsor, Red Bull, on Friday, the 40-year-old Vonn said: “So, I have some news. My body is finally put back together and I hear St Moritz is pretty nice this time of year.”
Vonn announced her retirement from competitive skiing in 2019 after 18 years on the World Cup circuit. In that time, she recorded 82 World Cup race wins, eight world championship medals and three Winter Olympic medals.
After undergoing successful partial knee replacement surgery earlier this year, the American star decided to return to ski racing.
“I feel stronger now than I did in my late 20s,” she said, per Reuters. “The passion for skiing has never gone away, I just wasn’t physically able to do it anymore.
“It was pretty soon after surgery and in the rehab process that I was already doing things that I hadn’t done in years,” she added.
“My body was just functioning better. Obviously, I am a lot happier because I’m not in pain 24 hours a day. I’m getting stronger and better and faster than I was for a long, long period of time.”
Vonn recently competed in lower-level events in Copper Mountain, Colorado in order to gain eligibility to compete at World Cup races.
According to The Associated Press, she will race in two super-G events in St. Moritz, where she has previously won five World Cup titles. The super-G competitions in the Swiss resort are scheduled to take place on December 21 and 22.
CNN has contacted US Ski and Snowboard for further comment.
“One thing I realized is that life is really short,” Vonn said in the video posted by Red Bull. “If you have an opportunity, you have to take it. There’s nothing that I love more than ski racing.”
Vonn’s haul of 82 World Cup wins puts her third on the all-time list behind Sweden’s Ingemar Stenmark on 86 and compatriot Mikaela Shiffrin on 99.
