Lindsey Vonn’s downhill crash puts Winter Olympics in doubt : NPR
American skier Lindsey Vonn grimaces after falling during the women’s downhill race Friday in Crans-Montana, Switzerland. The fall and possible knee injury put his potential participation in the Winter Olympics next week in jeopardy.
Fabrice Cofrini/AFP via Getty Images
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Skier Lindsey Vonn, whose comeback at age 41 was one of the most remarkable stories of this year’s ski season, crashed and injured her knee during a race in Switzerland on Friday, jeopardizing her goal of another Olympic medal.
Vonn was the third rider to fall during the downhill race in Crans-Montana, the final stop on the World Cup circuit before the start of the Winter Olympics next month.
Vonn lost control after landing a jump and rolled down the hill into the side nets. She was able to ski down to the finish line alone, skiing slowly, sometimes holding her left knee. Subsequently, she was airlifted from the course and the race was canceled.
His condition was unclear immediately after Friday’s crash. In a brief statement, the U.S. Ski Team said only that Vonn was “under evaluation.”
In an Instagram post, Vonn said she injured her left knee and was “discussing the situation with my doctors and team and will continue to undergo further testing.”
“My Olympic dream is not over,” she said. “[I]If there’s one thing I know how to do, it’s a comeback.”
Vonn was one of Team USA’s biggest stars in the 2000s and 2010s. Her Olympic gold medal in downhill at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics was the first for an American in the event. When she retired in 2019, her 82 World Cup victories were the most ever achieved by a female skier.
Lindsey Vonn clutches the back of her left knee after a fall during the women’s downhill in Crans-Montana, Switzerland, on Friday. This was his final tune-up race before the 2026 Winter Olympics.
Fabrice Cofrini/AFP via Getty Images
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But his retirement never pleased him. She felt as if she had been forced into it by repeated injuries to her knees. A partial knee replacement changed things, she said. She began training seriously again in 2024, with her eyes set on the Olympic opportunity that awaits her in 2026 at Cortina D’Ampezzo in Italy – a popular ski course where she took her first podium in 2004 and broke the record for most World Cup victories in 2015.
“It’s no secret that my goal is the Olympics,” she told reporters last fall.
This season, his success on the World Cup circuit has been nothing short of astonishing. She won her first race of the season – the downhill in St. Moritz, Switzerland, in December – and has since won another and finished on the podium in five other races.
The opening ceremony of the Olympic Games will take place next Friday, February 6. The women’s downhill race will take place two days later, on Sunday February 8.
