Lindsey Vonn's planned Olympic comeback suffered a jarring setback on Friday in Switzerland, just seven days before the Milan Cortina Games open in Italy. The 41-year-old American ski champ crashed in a World Cup downhill at Crans-Montana after losing her balance coming out of a jump on the second part of the course, per USA Today. Traveling at a high speed, she tumbled across the slope and slammed into safety netting. Vonn remained on the hill for several minutes as rescue workers reached her; she later stood and skied away under her own power, but she was clearly protecting her left knee, bending it gingerly and using her poles for support.
The US Ski Team said Vonn was being "evaluated" and didn't immediately provide details on the injury. The mishap comes at the worst possible time for Vonn, who returned to racing this season after a partial right-knee replacement in April 2024, motivated in part by the chance to compete again in Cortina, one of her favorite venues. She earned her first World Cup podium there in 2004 and has won a dozen of her 84 World Cup races on those slopes. The women's downhill in Cortina is scheduled for two days after the Olympic opening ceremony.
Vonn had flagged Crans-Montana as a concern back in October, citing a history of crashes and tricky conditions and noting she'd be "very strategic" about her race there. On Friday, visibility was already poor before her run, and race organizers canceled the event soon after her crash; two of the five starters before Vonn failed to finish. After slowly making her way to the base, Vonn gave a brief wave to the crowd, then shook her head as teammate Jackie Wiles approached. The two shared an embrace before Vonn headed into the finish-area medical tent. She was airlifted out by a helicopter shortly after, per the AP. NBC News has a photo of Vonn being spirited away, "dangling from a rope across the Swiss Alps."
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