Just one week before the 2026 Winter Olympics get underway in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, star American skier Lindsey Vonn went down with a left knee injury. The 41-year-old crashed during a downhill race in Switzerland on Friday, requiring an airlift to the hospital.
Vonn posted on social media following the crash, clarifying that her Olympic dream was not over. That remains the case despite her announcement on Tuesday that she suffered a fully torn ACL, a bone bruise, and meniscus tears. In a lengthy statement posted to her Instagram, Vonn confirmed her intention to compete for Team USA in the Olympic Downhill medal event on Sunday and expressed confidence in her physical abilities to do so. The decision came after she spent the last few days consulting with doctors and physical therapists to determine her status.
“I’m not letting this slip through my fingers,” Vonn said at a press conference in Italy. “I’m gonna do it, end of story. So I’m not letting myself go down that path, I’m not crying, my head is high, I’m standing tall and I’m gonna do my best and whatever the result is, that’s what it is. But can never say I didn’t try.”
Vonn is still required to go through one training run in order to race Sunday.
Lindsey Vonn gold medal odds
Per DraftKings Sportsbook, Vonn has +600 odds to win the gold medal in Women’s Downhill Alpine Skiing. That puts her second in the field, trailing only Italian Sofia Goggia (+125). Germany’s Kira Weidle-Winkelmann and Emma Aicher are favored to round out the podium, both boasting +800 odds to take home the gold.
Competition at Olympia delle Tofane will get underway at 5:30 a.m. ET on Sunday, February 8. The Americans’ runs will air on USA Network, while the full world feed will be on Peacock. NBC will re-air the competition at 9:20 a.m. ET that same day.
Lindsey Vonn injury history
This is far from Vonn’s first serious injury or her first time skiing through pain. She competed in an arm brace back at the 2009 World Cup, then entered the 2010 Vancouver Olympics with a severely bruised shin. She proceeded to win gold in the downhill and bronze in the super-G.
Vonn suffered a torn ACL and MCL in her right knee, plus a tibial plateau fracture, at the 2013 World Championships in Austria. She strained and partially re-tore her ACL 10 months later, then suffered another knee injury while training in France, ultimately missing the 2014 Sochi Olympics. Vonn went on to fracture the humerus bone in her right arm in 2016, followed by another right knee injury in 2018. She retired following the 2019 World Championships, and, after undergoing a successful right knee replacement to alleviate pain in the joint, returned to competition in December 2024. For good measure, she’s won two races since.
Vonn is one of the most decorated skiers of all time, winning one gold medal and two bronze medals at the Olympics and plus two golds, three silvers and three bronzes at the World Championships. She has earned 84 career first-place finishes at World Cup races, becoming the oldest downhill skiing World Cup winner ever in December 2025.
