MILAN — Lindsey Vonn’s magnificent comeback is over, in the most devastating way possible.
Starting 13th in a field of 36 for the women’s downhill, facing the dramatic 2,572-meter Olympia Delle Tofane course, pushing out of the gate at high noon, Vonn almost immediately clipped one of the course’s gates with her right shoulder. That was enough to send her spinning over a jump, twisting helplessly over her skis.
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Far below, the crowd watched in stunned silence.
(Screengrab by IOC via Getty Images)
(Handout via Getty Images)
Screengrab by IOC via Getty Images)
(Handout via Getty Images)
(Screengrab by IOC via Getty Images)
(Handout via Getty Images)
Vonn remained prone on the snow, her screams audible on camera in the immediate moments after the crash. Medical staff worked on her as the event was halted. Loaded onto a stretcher, a medical helicopter hovered above to carry her from the mountain — just as it did a little more than a week ago in Switzerland when she tore her ACL. Fifteen minutes after the crash, Vonn was lifted from the mountain and into the yellow helicopter high above.
Vonn’s mandatory air bag worn under her race suit did inflate, according to the Associated Press.
Vonn was airlifted to Ca’ Foncello Hospital in Treviso. “In the afternoon, she underwent orthopedic surgery to stabilize the fracture sustained in her left leg,” the hospital said in a statement. She was initially taken to Cortina’s Codivilla Putti Hospital for immediate treatment, and later moved to Treviso.
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U.S. Ski & Snowboard said Vonn “sustained an injury, but is in stable condition.”
“It was scary, because when you start to see the stretcher pulled out it’s not a good sign,” Vonn’s sister Karin Kildow told NBC. “We were just saying like the man in the arena, she just dared greatly. She put it all out there. It’s really hard to see, we just hope she’s OK.”
(Getty Images)
(Ezra Shaw via Getty Images)
(Photo by François-Xavier MARIT / AFP via Getty Images)
(FRANCOIS-XAVIER MARIT via Getty Images)
At the bottom of the slope, Vonn’s fellow American Breezy Johnson sat quietly after having posted the fastest time on the course, concern evident on her face. Johnson would go on to win gold, the first medal for Team USA at these Olympic Games.
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Sunday marked the final act of Vonn’s remarkable journey, one whose sharp twists and frenetic turns matched any downhill course. Vonn, who won three Olympic medals over the course of the first phase of her career, retired in 2019, her body broken even though her spirit remained strong. Over the course of her career, she’d won more World Cup victories than any woman in history, but by the time of her retirement, those podiums were just a memory. Unable to even hike short distances without pain, Vonn reconciled herself to a life off the mountain, pursuing everything from reality TV stardom to philanthropy.
In 2024, she elected to undergo a partial knee replacement in the hopes of living the rest of her life without debilitating pain. But something amazing happened: Vonn realized that the pain, all the pain, was gone from her beleaguered knee. And an idea formed in her mind: Why not get back out there on the slopes and give it one more run?
“I really thought when I retired in 2019, that was it,” Vonn said recently. “I had built an amazing life, I was really happy. But then after the replacement, I knew things were really different. My body felt so good, and I just kind of kept pushing myself further and further to see what I was capable of, and racing seemed like the logical next step.”
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She’d spent the entire 2022 Beijing Olympics in a state of mild frustration, hearing from friends and fellow skiers about how the mountain there was made for her talents. So the fact that the 2026 Games would be held at Cortina d’Ampezzo — site of her first World Cup podium, and 11 more after that, including six wins — clinched it for Vonn. She would attempt a comeback unlike any other in skiing history.
“I don’t think I would have tried this comeback if the Olympics weren’t in Cortina,” Vonn said. “If it had been anywhere else, I would probably say it’s not worth it. But for me, there’s something special about Cortina that always pulls me back, and it’s pulled me back one last time.”
A Team USA supporter looks on after US’ Lindsey Vonn crashed and was evacuated by helicopter in the women’s downhill event during the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games at the Tofane Alpine Skiing Centre in Cortina d’Ampezzo on February 8, 2026. (Photo by Stefano RELLANDINI / AFP via Getty Images)
(STEFANO RELLANDINI via Getty Images)
Right out of the gate, Vonn faced criticism of her motivations, her perceived selfishness, even her mental state. Olympic gold medalist Franz Klammer declared that “She’s gone completely mad,” and that was one of the kinder critiques.
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But Vonn simply kept skiing, and soon enough, she began climbing the standings of World Cup events. She blew right past U.S. Ski and Snowboarding’s metrics for judging potential Olympic team members, first climbing onto podiums, and then claiming two more World Cup victories.
Along the way, she metamorphosed from a cute story and the centerpiece of NBC’s Olympic coverage into a legitimate medal threat. Ranked sixth in the World Cup standings just a week before the Games began, Vonn seemed like she was on the verge of a story that defied even fairytales.
And then: disaster. Just one week before the Opening Ceremony, on a Swiss slope that had already seen several wrecks, Vonn pinwheeled off the course and into a barrier. She limped to her feet, the agony on her face evident, and required airlifting from the course. Soon afterward, doctors told her that she’d completely torn her left ACL. Vonn’s Olympic comeback, it seemed, would be a nice story, but an ultimately unfinished one.
But Lindsey Vonn is, as the saying goes, built different. On Tuesday, four days after her crash and two days before her first scheduled downhill practice, Vonn announced that yes, her ACL was completely torn, and no, she would not be withdrawing from the Olympics.
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“This is not, obviously, what I had hoped for,” Vonn said. “I’ve been working really hard to come into these Games in a much different position. I know what my chances were before the crash, and I know my chances aren’t the same as it stands today, but I know there’s still a chance, and as long as there’s a chance, I will try.”
She later posted video of herself lifting weights and leaping on the ACL-less knee, and jabbed back at social media analysis of both her knee and her motivations.
So when Sunday morning dawned in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Vonn had the opportunity to create magic. With the entire world watching, she went for it. And though the ending was devastating, the journey was something special to see.
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“It sucks for her,” fellow American Jackie Wiles, who finished fourth, said after. “We’re such a tight group. Lindsey has really been a huge mentor for all of us, and seeing her go down like that, it really sucks.
“It doesn’t change anything about her legacy. She’s a fighter, and that’s the way that she’s going to go out and ski every time.”