Lindsey Vonn: Former Olympic champion makes new comeback

Lindsey Vonn, left, had her first outing in Austria on Wednesday

Former Olympic champion Lindsey Vonn has returned to the slopes for the first time since failing in her battle to be fit for the Sochi Games.

The American suffered a knee injury at the World Championships in February 2013, then needed further surgery in January after aborting her comeback.

But she is now aiming to reclaim her downhill title in South Korea in 2018.

The 29-year-old tweeted: "After a long 9 months I'm back on snow! It was definitely worth the wait!"

In an attempt to be fit for the Winter Olympics, Vonn returned early from her first operation on the torn anterior cruciate ligament she suffered at the World Championships in 2013.

However, she ruptured the rebuilt ligament in training in November last year and eventually withdrew from the Games.

"I don't regret anything I did last year; I felt awesome and I was healed," Vonn told the New York Times. "I wouldn't change anything. It was just a very unfortunate turn of events."

Vonn, who has not won a race in 21 months, is not planning to return to competitive action until December at the earliest.

But she is targeting a fourth Olympic appearance in Pyeongchang in four years' time.

"I'll only be 33 years old," she said. "People wonder if my body will hold up. I'm very confident it will."