By Rory Carroll
(Reuters) – Lindsey Vonn’s knee feels “incredible” following an April surgery and she is back on the slopes, but it is unclear whether she will come out of retirement to compete on the World Cup circuit this season, a source close to the American said.
The four-time World Cup overall champion and Olympic gold medalist retired from the sport in February 2019, saying her body was “broken beyond repair” and screaming at her to stop.
But Vonn was spotted training in New Zealand earlier this year and more recently on the slopes of Solden, Austria, where the new season kicks off later this month, fuelling speculation the 39-year-old is eyeing a comeback, according to Olympics.com.
“Lindsey underwent a partial knee replacement in April,” a source close to Vonn told Reuters on Tuesday when asked about rumours she may return to competition.
“She has been recovering well since then and her knee feels incredible. She was cleared to ski and has begun a return-to-skiing progression,” the source said.
“As of right now she has no definitive plans or timeline.”
A speed specialist, Vonn is considered one of the greatest ski racers of all time and helped raise the profile of the sport in the U.S.
At the 2010 Games in Vancouver, she became the first American woman to win an Olympic downhill gold. She also won a super-G Olympic bronze in 2010 and a downhill bronze at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games.
Vonn’s 82 World Cup victories puts her second on the women’s all-time winner’s list behind fellow American Mikaela Shiffrin.
(Reporting by Rory Carroll in Los Angeles; Editing by Jamie Freed)
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