Lindsey Vonn’s Olympic hopes were shattered on Sunday after a terrifying crash left her with a broken leg. The 41-year-old skiing legend was sent tumbling violently down the slope in Cortina after clipping a flag just 13 seconds into her downhill run. She was airlifted to a hospital in Treviso, where doctors operated on her injured left leg.
A statement from the hospital read: “In the afternoon, she underwent orthopedic surgery to stabilize the fracture sustained in her left leg.” She was later transferred to intensive care mainly to ensure greater privacy, not because her condition had worsened. The U.S. team confirmed that the 2010 Olympic gold medalist is stable.
Broken Leg and Shattered Dreams
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Vonn was heard crying out in pain after the crash, which came just nine days after she had torn cruciate ligaments in her left knee during a warm-up race in Switzerland. Despite that setback, she stunned many by announcing she would still compete in Italy and raised hopes of something special after clocking the third-fastest time in final practice.
Sadly, the devastating fall brought a heartbreaking end to her fifth Olympic appearance. Vonn has not yet spoken publicly about the incident.
Vonn flew over a hill before veering into one of the plastic course markers and crashing hard onto the snow. Her right leg appeared to hit first, sending up a cloud of powder as she went down. She then pitched forward again, seemingly slamming her shoulder into the slope, before finally coming to a stop.
The atmosphere in Cortina turned eerily quiet as medical teams rushed to her side. Vonn was later airlifted off the mountain for further treatment.
Fears grew as she lay on her back in the snow, grimacing in pain, with her skis still attached to her boots. Witnesses also heard her crying out as medics carefully lifted her onto a stretcher. About six hours after the frightening crash, the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Team released an update on her condition.
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“Update: Lindsey Vonn sustained an injury, but is in stable condition and in good hands with a team of American and Italian physicians,” a spokesperson said.
Nothing Right
Organizers turned on background music in an effort to drown out the skier’s cries as Vonn was lifted onto a stretcher. At 41, she had already defied the odds simply by making it to the start line. After rupturing her ACL before the Games, Vonn completed several training runs in the lead-up to Sunday’s race, determined to compete despite the risks.
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Questions had been raised about whether she was pushing herself too far, especially after undergoing a right knee reconstruction in 2024 and then suffering another ACL rupture ahead of the tournament. Still, Vonn chose to take her place in the downhill final.
Her determination had shown signs of promise in training. On Friday, she clocked a time just 1.39 seconds off the fastest run, and she improved again on Saturday with a run of one minute and 38 seconds — 37 seconds behind teammate Breezy Johnson, who would go on to win gold on Sunday.
As Vonn launched out of the start gate on race day, her coach could be heard urging her on, shouting, “Keep charging, keep pushing.” Moments later, the downhill was halted, with other competitors removing their skis at the top of the course as they waited for her to be evacuated from the mountain.
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The dramatic scenes left many shaken, including BBC pundit and former alpine skier Chemmy Alcott, who was visibly distressed as events unfolded 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 was 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.
“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.”
