Lindsey Vonn’s family stood in horror as they watched the legendary skier, attempting to win a medal while skiing on a torn ACL, crash just seconds into her race in the women’s alpine skiing downhill event.
Vonn appeared motionless on the course as the crowd in Cortina d’Ampezzo audibly gasped, then fell silent. She was eventually airlifted off the mountain as the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Team said she would be “evaluated by medical staff.”
“That definitely was the last thing that we wanted to see,” Vonn’s sister Karin Kildow told NBC’s Cara Banks moments after the crash. “It happened quick. When that happens you’re just like immediately hoping she’s OK, and it was scary. When you start to see the stretchers being put out, it’s not a good sign.”
Kildow said the family does not know what injuries Vonn suffered in the crash or how severe they could be.
“She just dared greatly and she put it all out there so it’s really hard to see, but we just really hope she’s OK,” Kildow said.
The family planned to stay at the mountain as they awaited word of where Vonn would be taken.
“I don’t really know what happens from here obviously she was airlifted out so I think we’ll probably just wait… we’ll meet her at whatever hospital she’s at,” she said.
Vonn’s crash happened only a few seconds into her run, before she hit the first marker on the famed Tofane course.
Details on Vonn’s injuries were not immediately clear, but announcers called the crash “nasty” and said it was “hard to watch” as helicopters airlifted her off the course.
Vonn was 13th in the lineup, just a few skiers behind U.S. teammate Breezy Johnson, who at the time of the crash sat in first place with a 1:36.10 finish. Johnson went on to win gold in the event, becoming the only American woman besides Vonn to do so and scoring Team USA’s first medal of the Winter Olympics.
And Johnson knows the dangers of the course all too well.
Four years ago, a crash in Cortina kept Johnson from competing at the 2022 Beijing Olympics.
“It’s devastating, mostly for Lindsey,” Johnson said after her win. “I’ve been there on this slope and it’s really hard and I feel for her because I know how much it hurts.”
Hours before her race, Vonn, 41, released a powerful message on social media on her strength and what it took to bring her to the Games.
“I will stand in the starting gate tomorrow and know I am strong. Know that I believe in myself. Know that the odds are stacked against me with my age, no ACL, and a titanium knee- but know that I still believe,” Vonn wrote in the post. “And usually, when the odds are stacked against me the most, I pull the best of what’s inside me out.
“I will race tomorrow in my final Olympic Downhill and while I can’t guarantee a good result, I can guarantee I will give it everything I have,” she said. “But no matter what happens, I have already won.”
Vonn announced her decision to compete despite the injury just five days ago.
She was injured when she lost control and ended up tangled in the safety nets during a World Cup race on Friday. She said she completely ruptured her ACL in the crash and has bone bruising “plus meniscal damage” in her left leg.
In the post, the Minnesota native addressed a question she said many were asking: why compete with the injury?
She said the answer is a “simple” one: “I just love ski racing,” she wrote.
“I am not unsure about life outside of sport. I am not searching for meaning or for attention or money. I know exactly who I am and I know exactly what I am made of. I am the product of amazing parents who showed me that hard work and determination pays off.”
View this post on InstagramA post shared by L I N D S E Y • V O N N (@lindseyvonn)
Vonn’s appearance at the 2026 Milan Cortina Games comes years after she retired in February 2019 as the most decorated female alpine skier in history.
“She always goes 110%. There’s never anything less,” Kildow said Sunday.
Others quickly reacted to the heartbreaking end to what was an inspiring journey to Italy.
Live updates here.
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