The father of Lindsey Vonn expressed his hope the 2010 gold medalist is done skiing competitively following her crash in the 2026 Winter Olympics.
“She’s 41 years old and this is the end of her career,” Alan Kildow told Andrew Dampf of the Associated Press. “There will be no more ski races for Lindsey Vonn, as long as I have anything to say about it.”
Vonn suffered a fractured left leg during the women’s downhill final on Sunday. One of her ski poles got snagged on a gate and caused her to lose her balance mid-air and land awkwardly.
Plenty of attention has been paid to the fact Vonn “completely tore” her left ACL leading up to the Olympics and decided to still compete. Kildow disputed the idea that her torn ACL played a role in what unfolded on the slope.
“What happened to her had nothing to do with the ACL issue on her left leg. Nothing,” he said to Dampf. “She had demonstrated that she was able to function at a very high level with the two downhill training runs. … And she had been cleared by high level physicians to ski.”
Even if she had gone on to win gold, Vonn’s career was winding down.
When the skiing legend ended her retirement and returned in December 2024, she had a clear, tangible goal to achieve. The next Olympics were a little over a year away, and a strong 2024-25 season would put her in the mix to represent Team USA. She achieved that and completed an incredible comeback.
Vonn already made history as the oldest World Cup winner ever. Before the injury, how much longer was she going to realistically keep skiing once the Olympics and the rest of the 2025-26 schedule wrapped up? She told Dampf in January the Winter Games were probably it for her.
Her crash likely removed all doubt.