Lindsey Vonn‘s Winter Olympics comeback ended in heartbreak after the American star crashed out of the women’s downhill final.
The former Olympic champion, 41, was competing in Cortina following a six-year hiatus from the sport and only nine days on from rupturing the ACL in her left knee in a training run crash ahead of the Games.
Vonn was just 13 seconds into her run and had rounded the second corner when she appeared to lose control.
The 41-year-old sped over a hill and careered into one of the plastic markers on the side of the track before hitting the ground. Her right leg appeared to hit the ground first, with Vonn tumbling forwards before she was seen also smashing her shoulder into the ground.
The Cortina crowd fell silent as medical crews rushed to attend to Vonn, who was later airlifted off the mountain.
Immediately after the crash, the American was seen lying on the ground with her skis still attached and looked in agony, wincing as her head sank backwards.
American skiier Lindsey Vonn (pictured) was airlifted off the mountain on Sunday after she suffered a horrific crash during the women’s downhill final
Vonn, who ruptured her ACL just before the Winter Olympics, appeared to lose control as she glided over a jump just 13 seconds into her run
Vonn lost control and crashed to the ground, before medics rushed to attend the American star
In horrible scenes, Vonn was also heard crying in pain as the medics attended her on the slope.
The 41-year-old had defied the impossible by coming back to compete after rupturing her ACL prior to the games and had completed multiple training runs in the build-up to Sunday’s event.
She had made the decision to race despite having a reconstruction in her knee in 2024 while also having no ACL in her left leg.
Vonn’s coach was heard shouting ‘keep charging, keep pushing’ just as she left the gates.
It took a while for medics to attend Vonn on the slopes but the American was eventually placed onto a stretcher. Organisers had also played background music over the skier’s cries.
The downhill event was subsequently suspended with other competitors removing their skis at the top of the slope.
BBC pundit and former alpine skier Chemmy Alcott was distressed by the scenes unfolding in Cortina d’Ampezzo.
‘I feel guilty that I am this emotional,’ Alcott said to the BBC. ‘I just never believed it would end in a clump at the side of the piste, not moving. What we saw that the top of the piste is really hard for a fit athlete, she just had her right knee. It is brutal, think about her family, her team and herself.
Vonn initially landed on her right leg – she had undergone a reconstruction on her right knee in 2024 – before she flipped over and appeared to smash her shoulder into the ground
Vonn was airlifted off the slope, with a helicopter arriving to take her to hospital
The downhill event was subsequently suspended with other competitors removing their skis at the top of the slope
Vonn (pictured) had made the decision to race today having completed two practice runs at Olimpia delle Tofane in Cortina after rupturing her ACL
Her US team-mate Breezy Johnson, who had taken first place, looked distressed after seeing a replay of Vonn’s run
A gasp went up among fans at the Olimpia delle Tofane in Cortina, as they too were shown a replay of Vonn’s crash
‘We have to be realistic. The risk was really high, the risk she takes when she falls will double that, her body will not be able to take that. There is clapping and there is hope that she would be okay but they have put up some background music because it is uncomfortable.’
Alcott later revealed that it was likely that Vonn was going to be taken to a hospital in Innsbruck in Austria. She added that the doctor who had helped her through her ACL injury
Vonn’s team-mate, Breezy Johnson covered her face as a replay of the crash was played on the big screens at the 2,650m Olympia delle Tofane slope at Cortina d’Ampezzo.
‘Breezy Johnson will not be enjoying sitting in that [gold medal] chair,’ Alcott added to the BBC. ‘We all know what Lindsey has done to our sport. Lindsey was an early bib number and the temperature is increasing so the later athletes will be taking a big risk.
‘It means the surface won’t be as constant and the trust in the ski won’t be as good.’
After Vonn had been evacuated from the slope, Austrian star Nina Ortleib would also fall during her run.
Ortleib was in the final third of her downhill run when she appeared to jump into the air after going over a bump. She landed in the middle of the slope before losing control, with the Austrian falling to the ground and sliding around 10m down the slope.
Ortleib, thankfully, got up onto her feet and began to ski down the mountain.
More to follow….