“My Intention is to Race Everything“: Lindsey Vonn to Compete On Torn ACL

Lindsey Vonn’s comeback bid to win her second Olympic gold medal in downhill veered off course when she crashed in the Crans Montana World Cup downhill last Friday (Jan. 30). But the 41-year-old’s Olympic dream isn’t in the fence yet.

With a “completely ruptured” anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), bone bruising, and meniscus damage in her left knee, Vonn still plans to compete in the 2026 Olympic women’s downhill on Sunday.

“I know what my chances were before the crash, and I know my chances aren’t the same as it stands today,” she said in a pre-Olympic press conference in Cortina today (Feb. 3). “But I know there’s still a chance, and as long as there’s a chance, I will try.”

She also wants to compete in the 2026 Olympic super-G and new team combined event, as well, but is taking it day by day.

“My intention is to race everything,” she said. “I’ll finish the season if I can. But I can’t tell you that until I have a downhill training run, and I see how I feel.”

In Crans Montana, Switzerland, in the final World Cup downhill before the 2026 Olympic Winter Games, Vonn crashed near the top of the course, falling backwards and sliding into the course-side fencing. She remained tangled in the fencing until course workers and emergency personnel helped extract her. She then skied to the bottom of the course but was in obvious discomfort, favoring her right leg. She was then airlifted to a hospital for evaluation.

Vonn kept the diagnosis to herself and her team, only hinting through social media that “My Olympic dream is not over.”

On Tuesday afternoon in Cortina, she let the world—and her teammates—know what had happened.

“We have been doing extensive therapy, been consulting with doctors, been in the gym, and today I went skiing,” she said. “Considering how my knee feels, it feels stable. I feel strong. My knee is not swollen, and with the help of a knee brace, I am confident that I can compete on Sunday.”

Vonn is no stranger to injury—or racing while injured. At the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, she famously rallied from an “excruciating” shin bruise to win the first Olympic gold medal for the U.S. in women’s downhill, then followed that performance with a bronze in super-G.

Four years later, while trying to prepare to defend that Olympic gold medal in 2014, she tore the ACL in an already badly damaged right knee (from a crash at 2013 world championships). She competed in four World Cup races after the injury but ultimately withdrew for the season, citing her unstable knee.

In 2016, in an almost super-human effort, she raced a World Cup super-G with a tibial plateau fracture, winning that event.

Vonn retired from ski racing after winning a bronze medal at the 2019 world championship downhill. Her body, she said, was too broken to continue.

But then after a partial replacement of her right knee in April 2024, Vonn was able to return to ski racing, making a dramatic comeback at age 40 last season. She flirted with the podium most of last winter, then ended her comeback season by finishing second in super-G at the Sun Valley World Cup Finals.

After figuring out her ski boots and gaining 12 pounds of muscle over the summer, Vonn looked like a smart bet to win at least one medal at the 2026 Olympics—in downhill, super-G, and/or team combined. Then she crashed at Crans Montana, a race that, back in the fall, she had said that she would likely skip because of historic weather and snow challenges at the venue.

Now in Cortina, with yet another damaged knee, Vonn remains hopeful. She has skied Cortina’s Olympia delle Tofane course more times (65) than any other skier. Ever.

“I feel a lot better right now than I did in 2019 for the last world championships, and I still got a medal there,” she pointed out.

Her teammates have faith in her as well.

“If anyone can do it, it’s Lindsey,” said Bella Wright, a two-time Olympic downhiller. “I think we all know how strong a skier she is. But I think that her mental game is what makes Lindsey Lindsey, and that is what it takes to get through injuries, to get through the trauma, to get through the crashes. It takes a strong mental game.”

Four years ago, Breezy Johnson—the defending downhill world champion—tore her ACL in the lead-up to the 2022 Olympics and also still tried to compete. But after training for the Cortina World Cup downhill that year, she ended up withdrawing from both that race and from the 2022 Olympics.

“I tried and failed to ski this course with no ACL, but that doesn’t mean that [Lindsey] can’t do it,” Johnson said. “There are more athletes who ski without ACLs and with knee damage then maybe talk about it. And I think that it’s better to not judge people for doing it and just see how it goes.”

Vonn acknowledged how many times she has crashed in her career—a number that she did not want to admit, not even to herself. But she is clinging to optimism.

“As many times as I crash, I’ve always gotten back up,” she said. “As many times as I’ve failed, I’ve always won. So thankfully, actually, all of my experience in my life has given me a lot of confidence in knowing what my body can and cannot do.”