Lindsey Vonn knew the risks of skiing in the Olympic downhill on a ruptured ACL in her knee. Yet she also knew this was likely her last chance, at age 41, to chase gold.
Her decision would be polarizing, regardless of the outcome.
Vonn’s quest ending in a high-speed crash was always a possibility. But seeing it happen to the world’s No. 1-ranked downhiller less than 15 seconds into her run at the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Games was still stunning to watch.
The intial reaction from fans around the world was one of concern. Vonn remained down on the course surrounded by medical personnel for roughly 15 minutes before being airlifted of the mountain in Cortina by helicopter.
Vonn’s Alpine skiing teammate Mikaela Shiffrin and 1984 Olympic figure skating champion Scott Hamilton were among the first to offer their thoughts and prayers.
With the crash occurring early in the morning, U.S. time, many of the first to weigh in on social media were, predictably, journalists.
Once the shock had worn off, the question of whether or not she should have even attempted to compete in these Games was sure to be second-guessed.
And after all the knee-jerk initial takes had poured in, the real irony of the crash began to come into focus.
Vonn’s dream of a fourth Olympic medal was derailed not by her barely intact knee, but by her arm just clipping a gate on the course − an extremely rare occurrence that could have happened whether she was injured or not.