Daily Times

Rejuvenated US ski great Lindsey Vonn said Friday she hopes to redefine the parameters of what is possible after confirming she will make her World Cup comeback in St. Moritz next week, nearly six years after retiring from the sport.

The 40-year-old former Olympic and world champion said she had decided to return to skiing after a successful right knee replacement in April had left her living “pain-free” for the first time in years.

Vonn, who will serve as a forerunner before this weekend’s World Cup downhill and super-G races in Beaver Creek, cited US Olympic gymnastics superstar Simone Biles as an example of an athlete who successfully returned to the sport at a relatively advanced age. “I think Simone Biles is a perfect example of what can be done at an older age, and she’s not even old,” Vonn said. “It’s just it’s outside of the confines of what we believe is the right age for the sport.

“For women you know they retire because they want to start a family, and it’s not the same life pressures as men have. And there are many male ski racers that have been very successful, won World Championship medals, Olympic medals at 42, 43 years old.

“So it’s not like it’s not possible, it just hasn’t been done. So I don’t think I’m reinventing the wheel. I’m just doing what I feel is right for me, but at the same time continuing on what other women have done before me.” The biggest factor in Vonn’s decision to return was a restoration of her health after years of debilitating injuries prior to her retirement in February 2019. “What changed my mind was just that I was put back together again,” Vonn said when asked what persuaded her to come out of retirement. “I’ve been struggling with injury since my first ACL in 2013 and I’ve pretty much been injured almost every year after that. “But I feel stronger now than I did in my mid, late 20s, and I feel like the passion for skiing has never gone away. I just wasn’t physically able to do it anymore.