American skier Lindsey Vonn crashed seconds into her downhill Olympic race on Sunday after she determined to compete regardless of rupturing her left ACL in a previous crash throughout a World Cup occasion within the Swiss Alps every week in the past.
The 41-year-old American, who got here out of retirement to compete within the 2026 Winter Olympics, earlier confirmed that she had totally ruptured her ACL, however mentioned she felt assured she may nonetheless full the race with the assistance of a knee brace.
Seconds into the race, Vonn misplaced management after she appeared to clip a flag marking the aspect of the course, flew sideways within the air and hit her head on the bottom. She was responsive however didn’t rise up. Medical personnel put her on a stretcher and airlifted her from the course.
United States’ Lindsey Vonn crashes throughout an alpine ski ladies’s downhill race, on the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026.
Jacquelyn Martin / AP
Vonn’s “proper ski pole snagged a gate, jerking her off stability and uncontrolled,” Crew USA mentioned in an announcement.
After the crash, Vonn could possibly be heard screaming that she wasn’t capable of take away her skis.
Her situation was not instantly identified, with the U.S. Ski Crew saying merely she could be evaluated.
“She’ll be OK, however it is going to be a little bit of a course of,” mentioned Anouk Patty, chief of sport for U.S. Ski and Snowboard. “This sport’s brutal and folks want to recollect once they’re watching (that) these athletes are throwing themselves down a mountain and going actually, actually quick.”
Vonn had household within the stands, together with her father, Alan Kildow, who stared down on the floor whereas his daughter was being handled. Others within the crowd, together with Snoop Dogg, watched quietly because the star skier was lastly taken off the course the place she had so many fond recollections.
Thomas Pronske from Austin, Texas, who was watching the occasion on the sidelines, instructed CBS Information after the accident: “I hope she’s OK. It didn’t look good. We noticed her take fairly a little bit of a tumble and I am praying and wishing for the very best for her … She was a really huge purpose why I used to be right here. It is simply exceptional the comeback story of her overcoming adversity … I’ve torn my ACL myself, I do know it is a painful damage … and once more I hope she’s okay.”
Followers react after watching USA’s Lindsey Vonn crashing out throughout the Ladies’s Alpine Downhill Snowboarding on the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics.
Andrew Milligan/PA Photographs through Getty Photographs
Maria Pronske, Thomas’ mom, who mentioned she was so impressed by Vonn that she had come to see the occasion with an injured knee herself on her birthday, instructed CBS Information that she “felt terrible for her along with her knee … Poor factor. I really feel so sorry for her. I pray for her too.”
Crista Kosher, the cousin of Jacqueline Wiles, one other Crew USA skier who got here in fourth in Sunday’s race, mentioned it was “completely devastating to see her teammate be lifted off the hill.”
“Lindsay and Jacqueline have been racing collectively for years and years and years now, they usually positively have a mentor-mentee relationship, and seeing her pal go down is absolutely difficult for everybody, however we want the very best for Lindsay and her restoration,” Kosher mentioned.
A mountain rescue helicopter is seen rescuing Lindsey Vonn of Crew USA after she crashed throughout the Ladies’s Downhill on the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics at Tofane Alpine Snowboarding Centre on Feb. 08, 2026, in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy.
Ezra Shaw / Getty Photographs
Charles Christianson, a retired ex-ski racer from Park Metropolis, Utah, mentioned the crash was “completely heartbreaking.”
“Everyone seems to be right here to cheer on your complete American staff and particularly have fun Lindsay’s unbelievable profession. That is completely heartbreaking, however true to type, Lindsay would not have it every other approach,” Christianson mentioned. “She knew the dangers. Ski racers all the time settle for it and also you noticed the dedication when she went out of the gate. She was charging. There was by no means a doubt in her thoughts what she was going to do and it was gonna be podium or bust and it goes each methods. So once more, the respect of the gang and everybody right here reveals how necessary she’s been to the game. We’ll need to see what occurs. We want her the very best. However only a intestine punch.”
A Crew USA supporter seems to be on after American Lindsey Vonn crashed and was evacuated by helicopter within the ladies’s downhill occasion throughout the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Video games.
Stefano RELLANDINI /AFP through Getty Photographs
Forward of Sunday’s race, one Crew USA official had mentioned that Vonn moving into a nasty crash throughout the race was their largest worry. Given all the eye on her and her inspiring story, the picture of her being airlifted off the course throughout the race was their worst-case state of affairs.
Earlier than her retirement in 2019, Vonn had competed with a torn lateral collateral ligament, three tibia fractures and a bone bruise, and nonetheless gained a bronze medal. She now has one titanium knee, although that is not the joint that is presently injured.
“Simply getting to those Olympics has been a journey, and one which some didn’t imagine in from the beginning,” Vonn mentioned in a social media submit late Saturday. “I retired for six years, and due to a partial knee substitute, I had the possibility to compete yet one more time. However why? Everybody appears to be asking me that query. However I believe the reply is easy… I simply love ski racing.
“I’m not uncertain about life outdoors of sport. I’m not looking for which means or for consideration or cash. I do know precisely who I’m and I do know precisely what I’m product of,” she mentioned.
Vonn had clocked the third-fastest time in a coaching run on Saturday, forward of the race — behind her teammate Breezy Johnson — although the run was known as off resulting from dangerous climate earlier than all of the racers had participated.
“I believe it is a good run,” Vonn’s coach, Aksel Lund Svindal, mentioned. “Tomorrow is the race and it is the Olympics and the women will push more durable. So everybody will in all probability go quicker, which means Lindsey would additionally have to go quicker. However it’s a stable run, however I believe she has yet one more gear.”
On Sunday, Johnson gained gold after taking the early lead, flying down the long-lasting Olympia delle Tofana course on a sunny day in Cortina in 1:36.10. Emma Aicher of Germany and Sofia Goggia of Italy rounded up the rostrum.
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