In the final downhill race before the 2026 Winter Olympics, Lindsey Vonn crashed hard and appeared to injure her left leg just seconds into her run.
The spill happened so quickly that when the broadcast cut to the second sector turn, Vonn didn’t appear in the frame. Play-by-play commentator Nick Fellows wondered aloud where the St. Paul, Minnesota superstar could be, until another camera angle showed her off to the side, wrapped in course netting.
The 41-year-old lay there for about 5-10 minutes, hardly moving, as the Crans Montana, Switzerland crowd and the world held their collective breaths.
On-site medical professionals sprung onto the scene to tend to Vonn, and a helicopter was prepared to lift her off the piste if necessary.
Vonn eventually stood up and shuffled gingerly through the snow, visibly grimacing in pain. Remarkably, the hard-nosed Olympic gold medalist decided to ski down the mountain, despite clearly having trouble putting weight on her leg.
The scene was strikingly reminiscent of her heroics during a Lienz, Austria giant slalom in December 2009 when she lost her balance and fell on her arm. Wearing a makeshift sling, Vonn famously completed her descent. She went on to win downhill gold in the 2010 Vancouver Games a little over a month later.
Out of the six competitors who left the starting gates in Crans Montana Friday, three fell, with Vonn's nasty tumble causing a race interruption, and ultimately, a cancellation due to bad incoming weather, a slick course and visibility issues.
On the broadcast, Jacqueline Wiles (USA), who wore bib no. 4 and was sitting in the leader's chair, could be heard saying that her own run was "scary."
The results will not count, as fewer than 30 athletes wound up racing.
Vonn's fairytale World Cup season began with a downhill victory at the St. Moritz, Switzerland opener in December, which made her the oldest Alpine skier ever to win a Cup event.
In seven subsequent races, she reached the top three in each except for one, posting a ridiculous 88% podium clip. For context, her Team USA counterpart Mikaela Shiffrin — the record-holder for most Cup triumphs of all time — is currently at 53% on the season.
Vonn was forced to retire from the sport in 2019 due to chronic arthritis in her right knee. To mitigate the pain, she underwent a robot-assisted knee replacement surgery in 2023, which involved removing impacted knee bone tissue and inserting a plastic meniscus, along with titanium pieces.
The operation changed her life. She could walk and exercise comfortably for the first time in years, and in 2024, decided to return to professional ski racing with the hopes of competing at one final Winter Olympic Games in Milan Cortina.
The Tofane Alpine Skiing Centre in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy holds special significance for Vonn. It was where she earned her first World Cup podium in 2004, broke the all-time record for Cup victories (63, since exceeded by Shiffrin) and has won the most Cup events of any Alpine skier (12). She's described the venue as feeling like “home.”
Although Vonn struggled to find consistency during the 2024-25 campaign (posting a single podium), she maintained a clean bill of health. Heading into 2025-26, she felt as good as ever.
"Physically I'm in possibly the best shape I've ever been in," she said at a news conference before St. Moritz. "My body doesn't hurt, so that's the best part of all."
It showed, as Vonn proceeded to rip off possibly the strongest stretch of skiing in her historic career, which continued into Crans Montana.
The road to Milan Cortina appeared paved in gold, but with her apparent injury, it's unclear what will become of Vonn's Olympic dreams.
As soon as an update on Vonn's status is made available, we will share it.
A women's super-G event is slated for Saturday in Crans Montana, the ski resort where 40 people died in a bar fire on New Year's Eve.