SAALBACH-HINTERGLEMM, Austria (AP) — Lindsey Vonn completed pre-race inspection and was planning on competing in the super-G at the Alpine skiing world championships on Thursday despite feeling sick with "a cold or the flu."
It's the first race of these worlds for the 40-year-old Vonn, who recently returned to the ski circuit after nearly six years of retirement with a new titanium right knee.
Vonn told The Associated Press on Wednesday that she has “a cold or the flu or something” but that she was ”trying to do everything I can to recover."
Then she added on Instagram of her sickness, "I wouldn't let something like that prevent me from racing after everything I've gone through to get here! I guess the competitor in me is still there…"
Vonn will start with the No. 30 bib after all of the favorites have already raced.
These are Vonn's ninth worlds but her first since the 2019 edition when she won bronze in downhill in her final race before retirement. The American has won two golds at the worlds, having swept the super-G and downhill in Val d'Isere, France, in 2009. She has eight medals at the worlds.
Vonn is also the 2010 Olympic downhill champion and she has two bronzes from the Olympics.
In a recent interview with The AP, Vonn said that the main goal of her comeback is to compete at next year's Milan-Cortina Olympics, when women's skiing will be held in Cortina d'Ampezzo, the Italian resort where Vonn holds the record with 12 wins.
Thursday marks exactly one year to the Feb. 6, 2026 opening ceremony for the next Winter Games.
___
AP skiing: https://apnews.com/hub/alpine-skiing