Lindsey Vonn crashed out of the final World Cup downhill before the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics on Friday, leaving the American skiing great limping and clutching her left knee as organizers abandoned the race amid worsening conditions.
The 41-year-old lost control after landing a jump on the upper section of the course in Crans-Montana, Switzerland, skidding sideways into the safety netting as snow fell steadily and visibility deteriorated. Vonn’s airbag deployed on impact and she remained down for several moments while medical staff attended to her on the piste.
Vonn eventually stood and was able to ski away, but did so gingerly. She repeatedly took weight off her left leg, using her poles to steady herself, and stopped several times on the run down to check her knee. At the finish area she was met by her teammate Jacqueline Wiles, with the two sharing a long embrace before Vonn limped into a medical tent for further evaluation. She was later airlifted from the finish area by helicopter, suspended by a rope as she was transported away across the Swiss Alps.
Vonn’s coach this season, the two-time Olympic champion Aksel Lund Svindal, told Reuters, “She has some pain so it’s better to have some checks, the physio did some checks, they seemed OK but there were things he was not 100% sure so it was good to have it checked.”
Race officials cancelled the downhill shortly after Vonn’s crash, with three of the first six skiers having fallen in difficult conditions on a course that had already been shortened because of the weather. Austria’s Nina Ortlieb crashed in the same upper section as Vonn but was able to ski away, while Norway’s Marte Monsen hit the nets near the bottom of the course and was taken away on a stretcher with facial injuries.
Romane Miradoli of France, one of the few skiers to complete her run, said visibility was a major issue. “You can’t see, and it’s bumpy everywhere,” she said. Asked whether conditions were dangerous, Miradoli added: “We just couldn’t see well.”
Vonn had been the sixth starter and the first of the seeded racers to leave the gate. She was leading at the first checkpoint before landing a jump off balance, lifting her left arm and pole high in an attempt to regain control. As she tried to brake, she was spun around and slid into the safety fencing.
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The crash came exactly one week before the opening ceremony of the Milano Cortina Games, where Vonn is scheduled to compete in the women’s downhill on 8 February. She is also entered in the super-G and the new team combined event. The women’s alpine events will be held in Cortina d’Ampezzo, a venue where Vonn has enjoyed some of the greatest success of her career, with a record 12 World Cup victories.
Any injury at this stage would be a major concern for the United States team and for Olympic organizers, who have billed Vonn as one of the standout stars of the Games. A US Ski and Snowboard spokesperson said Vonn was being evaluated following the fall.
Despite the uncertainty, Vonn sought to play down fears that her Olympic bid was over, insisting she still hoped to compete in Cortina.
“I crashed today in the downhill race in Switzerland and injured my left knee,” Vonn wrote on social media. “My Olympic dream is not over.”
She added that she was continuing to undergo medical evaluations, saying she was “discussing the situation with my doctors and team” and would continue to undergo further examinations.
Vonn has been in outstanding form this season, leading the World Cup downhill standings with five podium finishes from five races, including two victories. Her performances have underpinned an unlikely return to the top of the sport following a partial knee replacement on her right leg less than two years ago. She came out of retirement last season after nearly six years away from competition and has described her physical condition as the best it has been in years.
The fall also revived memories of a career marked by serious injuries. Vonn tore the ligaments in her right knee in a high-speed crash at the 2013 world championships and was airlifted from the course. She suffered further damage the following season and missed the 2014 Sochi Olympics as a result. Over the course of her career she has also broken arms and legs and sustained a concussion.
Despite those setbacks, Vonn remains one of the most decorated skiers in history. She won Olympic downhill gold at the 2010 Vancouver Games, eight years after making her Olympic debut as a teenager in Salt Lake City. Like her US teammate Mikaela Shiffrin, she is among the most successful female World Cup racers of all time.
Three training runs for the Olympic downhill are scheduled in Cortina d’Ampezzo from 5–7 February, with the medal race set for the following day.
“This is a very difficult outcome one week before the Olympics,” Vonn wrote. “But if there’s one thing I know how to do, it’s a comeback. It’s not over until it’s over.”
Friday’s race in Crans-Montana was due to be the final competitive downhill before Olympic training begins next week, with the first official downhill training run scheduled for Wednesday. The World Cup stop was staged under a subdued atmosphere after a New Year’s Eve bar fire in the resort that killed 40 people and injured more than 100.
