FILE PHOTO: Alpine Skiing - FIS Alpine World Ski Championships - Women's Downhill - Saalbach, Austria - February 8, 2025 Lindsey Vonn of the U.S. in action REUTERS/Lisi Niesner/File Photo
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Lindsey Vonn, the American skier making a bid to get back to the Olympics at age 40, said Wednesday that her body felt better than it did seven years earlier when she last competed at the Games.
Vonn said a partial knee replacement last year had helped her overall fitness and enabled her to seek a spot on the U.S. ski team for the Milan-Cortina Olympics in February 2026.
"My body feels amazing," Vonn said at an event hosted by U.S. Olympics broadcaster NBCUniversal.
"Now that my knee is good again, I don't have any of the other problems," she added. "So my back's great. My body feels good. I feel better than I did in the last Olympics, by a lot actually."
Vonn, who boasts 82 World Cup wins and counts one gold among her three Olympic medals, had retired in February 2019.
In November 2024, Vonn announced she planned a comeback. She earned a second-place finish in the super-G at the Women's World Cup Finals in March.
"I have done everything I wanted to do in my career. This is not something that I ever expected," Vonn said of seeking to compete at the next Olympics.
"I'm going in looking to enjoy the experience, looking to be at a place that I love, that I've had a lot of success at," she added.
Climate change has prompted concerns about whether the Italian ski town of Cortina will have enough snow during the Games. Vonn said she was not worried about the conditions.
"Cortina has historically been so good at making a perfect racetrack, whether it's man-made or natural snow," she said. "No matter what the condition, it will be pristine. I am 100% sure of that."
American snowboarder Chloe Kim, who is chasing a third gold medal, also said she was preparing to handle any conditions.
"I've competed in blizzards, no snow, too much snow, windy, too warm where the snow gets really slushy and grippy," Kim said. "I've been doing this since I was four years old. Hopefully those skills will get me through."
(Reporting by Lisa Richwine; Editing by Stephen Coates)
