ALPINE SKIING: Vonn named to US ski team as future remains uncertain

Lindsey Vonn has been named in the US Alpine ski team for the 2026-27 World Cup season despite uncertainty over her future in the sport as she recovers from surgery following a heavy crash at last February's Milano Cortina Olympics.

The U.S. team said in a statement that all named athletes had qualified based on existing Alpine criteria. Despite her injuries, Vonn was ranked 12th overall last season and fifth in the final downhill standings.

She was also the highest ranked US female skier in Super-G.

The three-times Olympic medallist, who will be 42 this month, said in April she was unsure if she would return to competitive ski racing after suffering a complex tibia fracture in a crash during an Olympic downhill race on February 8.

Vonn has had multiple surgeries since then.

The World Cup season starts in Soelden, Austria, with a giant slalom on October 24. The first downhill is at Beaver Creek, Colorado on December 11.

-Reporting by Alan Baldwin; Editing by Ken Ferris/Reuters