Kenworthy retired after the 2022 Olympics in Beijing and completely walked away from skiing.
He then turned his hand to acting, with credits in Will & Grace and American Horror Story, as well as guest-judging on Ru Paul’s Drag Race.
However, the itch to return grew stronger, and last year he announced his return to the sport, though he has had to self-fund his way to the Games given GB Snowsport’s athlete funding had already been allocated.
“I called it quits partly because I’d been doing it a long time and I had burnout and was over it, but I was also having some bad head injuries and so it made it easier to walk away,” said the five-time World Championship medallist.
“Months after, when those symptoms started to subside and I started to feel myself again, I started [thinking] it wasn’t the way I wanted it to finish.
“I kept pushing that feeling away, and finally I was at a point where I was like ‘OK, well if you’re having that feeling, it’s now or never’, and I didn’t want to live to regret it and wonder what if.
“I decided to just give it a push and make it go, and try and get there. It’s been pretty tough, because I didn’t have any funding, I wasn’t on any national team in order to get assistance, so it’s been totally self-funded, myself, my coach, both of our travel, training camps, lift tickets, insurance, all of it, food, lodgings.
“I struggled deciding if it was the right thing to do, but ultimately, money comes and goes, this opportunity won’t.”
Kenworthy will be 38 when the next Winter Olympics take place in the French Alps in 2030.
When asked by BBC Sport if he will be there, he replied: “I hope so. I’m having fun, I’m not done.”
