Lindsey Vonn‘s defiant bid to win the Winter Olympic downhill on the age of 41, on a rebuilt proper knee and a badly injured left knee, ended Sunday in a daunting crash that noticed her taken to security by a rescue helicopter for the second time in 9 days.
Vonn misplaced management inside moments of leaving the beginning gate, clipping a gate together with her proper shoulder and pinwheeling down the slope earlier than ending up awkwardly on her again, her skis crisscrossed beneath her and her screams ringing out quickly after medical personnel arrived. She was handled for lengthy, anguished minutes as a hush fell over the gang ready far beneath on the end line.
She was strapped to a gurney and flown away, presumably ending the skier’s storied profession. Her situation was not instantly recognized, with the U.S. Ski Workforce saying merely she can be evaluated.
“She’ll be OK, but it surely’s going to be a little bit of a course of,” mentioned Anouk Patty, chief of sport for U.S. Ski and Snowboard. “This sport’s brutal and other people want to recollect once they’re watching (that) these athletes are throwing themselves down a mountain and going actually, actually quick.”
Breezy Johnson, Vonn’s teammate, grew to become solely the second American lady to win the Olympic downhill after Vonn did it 16 years in the past. The 30-12 months-previous Johnson held off Emma Aicher of Germany and Italy’s Sofia Goggia on a bittersweet day for the staff.
Get breaking National information
For information impacting Canada and all over the world, join breaking information alerts delivered on to you once they occur.
“I don’t declare to know what she’s going by, however I do know what it’s to be right here, to be combating for the Olympics, and to have this course burn you and to observe these goals die,” mentioned Johnson, whose harm in Cortina in 2022 ruined hopes of sking in the Beijing Olympics. “I can’t think about the ache that she’s going by and it’s not the bodily ache — we are able to cope with bodily ache — however the emotional ache is one thing else.”
Vonn had household in the stands, together with her father, Alan Kildow, who stared down on the floor whereas his daughter was being handled after simply 13 seconds on the course the place she holds a file 12 World Cup titles. Others in the gang, together with rapper Snoop Dogg, watched quietly because the star skier was lastly taken off the course. Fellow American star Mikaela Shiffrin posted a damaged coronary heart emoji on social media.
Vonn’s crash was “tragic, but it surely’s ski racing,” mentioned Johan Eliasch, president of the Worldwide Ski and Snowboard Federation.
“I can solely say thanks for what she has achieved for our sport,” he mentioned, “as a result of this race has been the discuss of the video games and it’s put our sport in the absolute best mild.”
All eyes had been on Vonn, the texture-good story heading into the Olympics. She had returned to elite ski racing final season after almost six years, a exceptional resolution given her age however she additionally had a partial titanium knee alternative in her proper knee, too. Many questioned how she would fare as she sought a gold medal to affix the one she gained in the downhill on the 2010 Vancouver Video games.
The 4-time general World Cup champion surprised everybody by being a contender virtually instantly. She got here to the Olympics because the chief in the World Cup downhill standings and was a gold-medal favourite earlier than her crash in Switzerland 9 days in the past, when she suffered her newest knee harm. Along with a ruptured ACL, she additionally had a bone bruise and meniscus injury.
Nonetheless, nobody counted her out even then. In reality, she has skied by accidents for 3 a long time on the prime of the game. In 2006, forward of the Turin Olympics, Vonn took a nasty fall throughout downhill coaching and went to the hospital. She competed lower than 48 hours later, racing in all 4 occasions she’d deliberate, with a prime results of seventh in the tremendous-G.
Cortina has had many treasured recollections for Vonn past the file wins. She is named the queen of Cortina, and the Olympia delle Tofana is a course that had all the time suited Vonn. She examined out the knee twice in downill coaching runs over the previous three days earlier than the terrible crash on Sunday in clear, sunny situations.
“This might be the most effective comeback I’ve achieved to date,” Vonn mentioned earlier than the race. “Undoubtedly probably the most dramatic.”
Information of the crash unfold shortly, together with to the fan zone down the mountain in Cortina.
“It’s such an enormous loss and bummer,” American Megan Gunyou mentioned. “I really feel like listening to her story and identical to the redemption of her first fall and like combating to return again to the Olympics this 12 months, I imply, I really feel so unhappy for her.”
© 2026 The Canadian Press
Source link
#Lindsey #Vonn #crashes #Winter #Olympic #downhill #helicopter #National #Globalnews.ca
