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Lindsey Vonn’s attempt to compete at the Winter Olympics despite a torn knee ligament ended in disaster on Sunday, with the US ski racer needing to be airlifted to hospital after a horror crash early in the race.
Vonn, 41, ruptured a ligament in her left knee just nine days ago, but vowed to take part in the women’s downhill Alpine ski race. Yet just a few seconds into her first run on Sunday morning, her right ski pole clipped a gate, sending her spinning sideways before landing heavily feet first into the compacted snow.
The crash caused a lengthy delay to the competition as medical personnel rushed to her aid on the slopes above Cortina in northern Italy. Television viewers could hear Vonn screaming in pain, while her US teammates and coaches were visibly distressed.
The former world and Olympic champion was then evacuated from the course by helicopter. The US Olympic ski team said later that she was in a “stable” condition in hospital.
Heading into the Games, Vonn’s comeback from retirement had already become one of the storylines to watch. She quit the sport in 2019 after suffering several serious injuries that had left her struggling with ordinary life. But she returned nearly six years later following a partial knee replacement, and had been in good form in recent weeks.
Then came a crash at a World Cup race in Crans-Montana on January 30 that left her with a torn anterior cruciate ligament, a damaged medial collateral ligament and a bone bruise. Despite the injury, Vonn insisted on competing in her fifth and final Olympics and successfully finished a training run on Friday while wearing a knee brace.
Her decision to participate in one of the most physically demanding and dangerous sports in the Olympic programme had divided medical opinion, with some warning it was unsafe and unwise for Vonn to race with a seriously unstable knee. Ski racers hit top speeds of more than 80 miles per hour during the downhill.
