Lindsey Vonn's fairy-tale comeback ended in heartbreak Sunday when the 41-year-old alpine skiing legend crashed 13.4 seconds into the women's downhill at Cortina d'Ampezzo. According to the USA team report, she fractured her left leg in a scary fall that required an immediate helicopter evacuation.
Vonn retired in 2019 after years of injuries. A partial knee replacement in her right knee later allowed her to return to competition. She announced her comeback in 2024 and qualified for the U.S. Olympic team for the Milan-Cortina Games.
But one week before the opening ceremony, she tore her ACL in Switzerland. The real shock came later: She confirmed she still planned to compete in the Olympics, saying she would try as long as she had a chance.
Sunday’s crash added more pain to the injury. Vonn lost balance after her right ski pole caught a gate. She crashed hard and was heard screaming on the snow. Officials stopped the race for more than 10 minutes as medical staff placed her on a stretcher and airlifted her off the mountain.
Credit: Michael Madrid-Imagn Images
U.S. Ski and Snowboard chief of sport Anouk Patty offered a blunt assessment of what's ahead for the Minnesota native after she underwent surgery at Ca' Foncello Hospital in Treviso to stabilize the fracture.
"She'll be OK, but it's going to be a bit of a process," Patty told, per ESPN. "This sport's brutal and people need to remember when they're watching these athletes are throwing themselves down a mountain and going really, really fast."
The decorated U.S. skier won three Olympic medals across five Winter Games, including a gold medal in the downhill at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. She had been scheduled to compete in the team combined on Tuesday and the super-G on Thursday, but the broken leg ended what was likely her final Olympic run.
International Ski Federation president Johan Eliasch called the crash "tragic" but added, "Knowing Lindsey, I wouldn't count her out for 2030." She would be 45 years old when the next Winter Games are held in the French Alps. If she were to make it, she would write the ultimate comeback story, providing nothing bad happens in the process.