For the first time in 10 months, Lindsey Vonn plans to ski again Wednesday when she makes a few modest turns on an Austrian training slope. It will be a cautious first step as Vonn tries to return from two devastating knee injuries, but it is meaningful progress, since Vonn senses that many in the ski community are discounting her comeback.

“A lot of people don’t think I will be back,” said Vonn, who turns 30 this month and has not won a race in 21 months. “That’s fine. The other girls are probably feeling pretty comfortable without me out there. When I do come back, I think they’ll see that they can’t be comfortable anymore.

“It’s a new generation coming up, but they’ll definitely realize that the veteran is not gone quite yet.”

Vonn also insists that she plans to race in the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea.

“I need to have another chance to defend my Olympic gold medal in the downhill,” Vonn said. “I knew that in January as soon as I mentally accepted that I couldn’t race in the Sochi Olympics. I want another chance to compete.”