Lindsey Vonn’s Winter Olympic dream ended in screams of pain on Sunday after she crashed out of the women’s downhill, failing in her audacious bid to medal in her favoured discipline at the Milan-Cortina Games.
The American star had been trying to claim her fourth Olympic medal despite suffering a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee just over a week ago, but her race ended early in Cortina d’Ampezzo. She cried in anguish and pain after her awful fall high up the course, medical staff surrounding the distraught 41-year-old on the Olimpia delle Tofane piste where has enjoyed much success in the past.
The 2010 Olympic downhill champion hit the firm snow face first after just 13 seconds of her descent. She then rolled down the slope with her skis still attached, which could likely cause further serious damage to her knee. Vonn’s Olympic dream now lies in tatters after her brave effort to achieve the seemingly impossible, an attempt which ended with her being taken away in a helicopter as fans in the stands saluted her with loud applause.
Her teammate Breezy Johnson held her face in shock from the leader’s chair, the world downhill champion in front of Germany’s Emma Aicher by just 0.04sec following her powerful run.
One of world sport’s most recognisable faces and an alpine skiing icon, Vonn has insisted that she could not only compete but win against the world’s best women skiers, some of whom like Aicher are nearly half her age.
Vonn said ahead of the Games that she was planning on also competing in the team combined event on Tuesday and the super-G two days later. But that now looks unlikely, a potential long lay-off perhaps heralding the end of her comeback to skiing in her early 40s.
Vonn retired in 2019 but returned to compeition in November 2024 following surgery to partially replace her right knee to end persistent pain.
Had she not crashed in the last World Cup downhill ahead of the Olympics, in Crans Montana at the end of January, Vonn would have been a serious contender for gold in Cortina. Vonn had finished on the podium in every previous World Cup downhill race this season, including two victories in St. Moritz and Zauchensee, and claimed two more top-three finishes in the super-G. But retirement looms for Vonn following a disastrous end to one of the biggest stories of the Winter Olympics.