Champion skier Lindsey Vonn is excited about returning to competitive skiing after taking a break due to a knee injury she sustained during the 2013 world championships. Vonn is hoping to join the Alpine Ski World Cup Tour in December at Lake Louise.

“So I have the whole month of November to get ready in Vail and, hopefully I’ll be in good shape and I’m looking forward to being on the podium again,” Vonn said.

Vonn’s injury kept her from competing at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics. However, Vonn is setting her sights on competing in the 2015 Alpine Ski World Championships, which will be held in Beaver Creek, Colorado in February, the first time in the US since 1999. “Since I didn’t make the Olympics last year because of my knee injury, I feel like the world championships this year in Vail are going to be my Olympics. I’ve been waiting for the world championships to be in the United States for basically my entire career. I’m very much looking forward to it, and my friends and family will all be there, and of course the hometown crowd so hopefully I can pull something out of my hat for everyone,” she said.

.@lindseyvonn prepares for return after last year’s knee injuries http://t.co/0j5goGUW4d by @johnmeyer (Getty pic) pic.twitter.com/lEJQnAmzRF

— Denver Post Sports (@DPostSports) October 23, 2014

As excited as she is, Vonn is reportedly taking it slow, too. For the World Cup, she will be missing the first four women’s races of the season and will join the competition for the downhill and super-G races at Lake Louise in Alberta in December. Vonn has been training cautiously with drills and some gate training, then progressing into super-G and giant slalom courses. However, she said that she hopes to train with the rest of the team eventually.

“I had heard a couple of interviews where other girls had expected me to retire, and that’s just not what’s going to happen. I’m very fired up for this season and I’m looking forward to being back in the starting gate and being aggressive again,” said Vonn.