Alpine skiing great Lindsey Vonn will rejoin the United States ski team with hopes of racing at the World Cup this winter, the US Ski and Snowboard Federation said on Thursday.

Vonn, 40, retired five years ago largely because of pain in her right knee, which was damaged by high speed crashes and several surgeries.

But in a turn of events, which Vonn called "amazing and definitely not planned" in an interview to the New York Times, she will return to the sport and suggested that she's targeting the event in Beaver Creek next month to make her World Cup comeback on home soil.

Some seven months ago, she had a knee replacement surgery and resumed skiing 10 weeks later - startled to be pain-free.

“I had a smile so wide it was coming through the back of my helmet,” she told the Times.

Vonn stressed she needs to make consistent progress, but didn't ruled out making a run for a fifth Olympic appearance at the 2026 Winter Games in Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo.

"I don’t know what the next few months and the next year and a half hold for me. So I can’t say right now if it’s a possibility," she said.

The US team said that Vonn has been able to get back to training and test her knee over the past couple of months and will be continuing her progression in the US ski team’s training sessions at Copper Mountain in Colorado that begin on Saturday.

"Getting back to skiing without pain has been an incredible journey," she said.

Vonn dominated the sport during her active career between 2000 and 2019. Her achievements include four overall World Cup titles, two world championships and one Olympic medal at the 2010 Vancouver Games.

She previously held the record for the most World Cup wins by a woman (82), but has since been surpassed by compatriot Mikaela Shiffrin.

Vonn return follows male skiers Lucas Pinheiro Braathen and Marcel Hirscher in coming back to the sport this season.