Cortina d’Ampezzo (Italy) (AFP) – Lindsey Vonn’s Winter Olympic dream ended in screams of pain on Sunday after she crashed out of the women’s downhill, failing in her audacious bid to medal in her favoured discipline at the Milan-Cortina Games. The American star had been trying to claim the fourth Olympic medal of her career despite suffering a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee just over a week ago, but her race ended after just 13 seconds in Cortina d’Ampezzo.
She cried in anguish and pain after her awful fall high up the course, with medical staff surrounding the distraught 41-year-old on the Olimpia delle Tofane piste where she has enjoyed much success in the past. The 2010 Olympic downhill champion hit the firm snow face first soon after pushing off from the gate. She then rolled down the slope with her skis still attached, which could likely cause further serious damage to her knee. Vonn’s Olympic dream now lies in tatters after her brave effort to achieve the seemingly impossible, an attempt which ended with her being taken away in a helicopter as fans in the stands saluted her with loud applause.
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Her US teammate Breezy Johnson, sitting in the leader’s chair, held her face in shock. At the time Vonn crashed, Johnson, the world downhill champion, was in front of Germany’s Emma Aicher by just 0.04 seconds following her powerful run. Johan Eliasch, the president of the International Ski Federation (FIS), who was watching the race in Cortina, said Vonn’s crash was “tragic, but it’s ski racing, I’m afraid.” He added, “And I can only say thank you for what she has done for our sport because this race has been the talk of the Games and it’s put our sport in the best possible light.”
Eliasch further stated, “I hope she will have a speedy recovery and be back on skis very, very soon. A lot of people are going to say she shouldn’t have been racing today with that type of injury. It’s obviously her decision.”
As a skiing icon and one of the world sport’s most recognisable faces, Vonn has insisted that she could not only compete but win against the world’s best women skiers, some of whom, like Aicher, are nearly half her age. Vonn stated ahead of the Games that she was planning to also compete in the team combined event on Tuesday and the super-G two days later. But that now looks unlikely, with a potential long lay-off perhaps heralding the end of her comeback to skiing in her early 40s.
Vonn retired in 2019 but returned to competition in November 2024 following surgery to partially replace her right knee to end persistent pain. Had she not crashed in the last World Cup downhill ahead of the Olympics, in Crans Montana at the end of January, Vonn would have been a serious contender for gold in Cortina. She had finished on the podium in every previous World Cup downhill race this season, including two victories in St. Moritz and Zauchensee, and claimed two more top-three finishes in the super-G.
But retirement looms for Vonn following a disastrous end to one of the biggest stories of the Winter Olympics.
© 2024 AFP
