Lindsey Vonn’s ACL is ‘100% gone.’ But not her chance of winning Olympic gold Sunday.
MILAN — If a torn anterior cruciate ligament didn’t stop Lindsey Vonn from winning an Olympic gold medal at age 41, can the world’s best skiers?
This is the question that concerns all spectators of the Winter Olympic Games in Milan Cortina, as the women’s downhill final begins on Sunday.
The downhill was already one of alpine skiing’s signature events, as women raced down mountains, around curves and over jumps, pushing at 80 mph. And Vonn was already, without hyperbole, the biggest star of these Olympics. Yet Sunday’s competition in Cortina, Italy, has sparked even more intrigue than usual as the world awaits the answer to whether Vonn can somehow win a medal just nine days after she fell and ruptured a ligament crucial to stabilizing her left knee.
Vonn will now attempt to win the downhill 16 years after doing so at the Vancouver Olympics. She also won two Olympic bronze medals during her career, in downhill in 2018 and super-G in 2010.
When Vonn announced she would come out of retirement in 2024, she was already facing the dual challenges of health and rust; injuries had forced her to retire five years earlier. Still, a surgically replaced right knee and a new coach had given Vonn a boost of confidence and what she called her healthiest season in a decade. Both helped her finish on the podium in all five World Cup races she competed in this season, including two victories, making her the oldest person to win on the prestigious ski circuit. These performances seemed to put to rest questions about whether his medal ambitions in Cortina were real or a quixotic quest.
But his accident in Crans-Montana, Switzerland, late last month, which required an airlift, has cast doubt on his ability to once again topple the world’s best skiers.
Vonn did not undergo surgery, however, and wore a brace during two successful knee tests during practice runs Friday and Saturday, when she hit 78 mph to finish with the third-fastest time of the day until bad weather stopped practice midway through the field.
In the final, Vonn will have the advantage of familiarity. She called the Cortina course her favorite and it was one of the main factors why she wanted to stage her return to the Olympics. Of his 84 World Cup victories, 12 came in Cortina.
But Vonn will also have to push her knee further than in her two training races, where she could be seen backing off in some corners so as not to exert too much pressure before the main event. One of her main competitors for a medal could be her compatriot, American Breezy Johnson, who had the best time in training on Saturday.
ACL injuries have long been among the most devastating injuries in sports, typically requiring at least six months of intense recovery. The fact that she could compete in the Olympics just over a week after a tear was met with some disbelief, like that of a doctor known for his social media account analyzing sports injuries.
“My ACL was fully functioning until last Friday,” Vonn responded Saturday. “Just because it seems impossible to you doesn’t mean it’s not possible. And yes, my ACL is 100% torn. Not 80% or 50%. It’s 100% gone.”
But not his hopes for gold.
