BEAVER CREEK, Colo. — In 2011, Sarah Schleper was 32 years old and had been a member of the U.S. ski team for 16 winters, a stint that included four Olympic Games, seven national championships and four World Cup podium finishes.

Schleper decided to retire and did so in grand style, wearing an elegant dress as she skied her final World Cup run. She also stopped halfway down the racecourse to pick up her then 4-year-old son, Lasse, whom she carried through the finish line.

Schleper returned to the Vail area, where her father has owned a popular and revered ski shop for more than 30 years and where Schleper had skied since she was 2. Once the top-ranked junior skier in the world, Schleper was coaching and was happy, living with her husband, Federico Gaxiola de la Lama, a real estate broker and Mexican citizen.

In 2013, they had a second child, Resi, named for Schleper’s longtime American teammate Resi Stiegler.

“I had retired, but I never really let it go completely,” Schleper said last week, sitting in her hilltop home surrounded by a sprawling grove of aspen trees. “In my mind, I never really gave up ski racing.”

In fact, Schleper had been plotting a comeback — with a twist — since she left the World Cup circuit in 2011. Schleper, who has always been a free spirit and a freethinker in the ski community, had a novel plan. She would return to elite ski racing as a member of the Mexican team, whose best known member is Hubertis von Hohenlohe, 56, a Mexican native who is a descendant of a dethroned European royal family.

Schleper received her Mexican citizenship last spring, giving her dual citizenship. In May, international ski officials cleared Schleper to represent Mexico instead of the U.S.

On Thursday, Schleper, one week before her 36th birthday, will compete in the giant slalom of the alpine world ski championships wearing a mariachi-themed speed suit. She still figures to be cheered on by her hometown crowd.

But this is no ceremonial or farewell appearance. Schleper is recruiting other Mexicans to take up ski racing, hoping to establish a Colorado training base for the Mexican team, and plans to keep racing until at least the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea.

“I’m doing this for the passion of the sport and to inspire others,” Schleper said. “I know I’m not going to win, but I want to prove that people my age and girls in general can push the limit. It’s about longevity. The guys do it.”

Bode Miller just competed in the world championships at 37, albeit in a high-speed race, the super-G. Racers in the giant slalom do not reach the same speeds, although they are moving fast enough to risk injury.

Schleper is not unaware of the risks. She has had multiple crashes, a broken leg, major reconstructive knee surgery and other physical setbacks in her career.

“It is never safe,” she said. “But I feel like if you train correctly — tai chi, yoga, Pilates — and eat right, the human body can do so much more than we think it can.”

That said, in training recently, Schleper turned the spring settings on her bindings down a few notches, which makes them more likely to come off in a hard fall.

Top ski racers typically ratchet their bindings to the highest setting so they can barrel through icy, bumpy conditions without worrying about their skis popping off at high speed. It also means the skis might stay on during a tumbling crash, which can be hazardous.

“I wanted my skis to come off if I fell,” Schleper said.

Schleper’s husband not only supports his wife’s comeback, he has enjoyed watching the effect it has had on her.

“There was a part of her that went away when she retired from the World Cup,” Gaxiola said. “It’s nice to see the racer I know return. It is her at her fullest.

“It’s also the beginning of her career as a mentor of a new nation,” he added. “I think there’s a lot she can do and a lot of people she can inspire — the young and up-and-coming racers.”

Schleper has taken two young female racers from Mexico City under her wing.

“They’re 11 and 14, they’ve got talent and passion for the sport and they’re moving to Vail,” Schleper said. “I think we could help build a pipeline for the sport. There’s no training for ski racing in Mexico, but my goal would be to build a boardinghouse for young, promising racers from Mexico here in the Vail valley.”

For now, Schleper has had to resume racing at a far lower level of competition than she knew earlier.

“It’s been like going back to high school,” she said, laughing.

Schleper said she had been distributing small Mexican flags to her friends in the Vail community who expect to attend Thursday’s race.

“I know they’ll have American flags in one hand, but I’ve told them that when I cross the finish line to wave the Mexican flag in their other hand,” Schleper said. “People have been really open to that. Some have told me they’re going to wear capes and sombreros.”