Lindsey Vonn crashed and injured her left knee on Friday in her final downhill race before the Olympics, but said she still hopes to recover in time for the Milan Cortina Winter Games.
“This is a very difficult outcome one week before the Olympics … but if there’s one thing I know how to do, it’s a comeback,” the 41-year-old American wrote on Instagram, hours after she was airlifted off the course for medical checks. “My Olympic dream is not over.”
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Vonn was the third skier to crash in the World Cup race in Crans-Montana when she lost control while landing a jump and ended up tangled in the safety nets on the upper portion of the course.
She got up after receiving medical attention for about five minutes, seemingly in pain and using her poles to steady herself. Vonn then skied slowly to the finish line, stopping a couple of times on the way down and clutching her left knee.
“I crashed today in the Downhill race in Switzerland and injured my left knee. I am discussing the situation with my doctors and team and will continue to undergo further exams,” Vonn wrote in her Instagram post. “Thank you for all of the love and support. I will give more information when I have it.”
The race, which was held in difficult conditions with low visibility, was cancelled after Vonn’s crash.
The American, who was expected to be one of the biggest stars of the Games, limped into a tent for medical attention before being airlifted away by helicopter, dangling from a hoist cable with two people attending her.
Before she entered the tent, Vonn had an anxious expression on her face, and her eyes were closed during a long embrace with teammate Jacqueline Wiles, who was leading the race when it was cancelled.
“I know she hurt her knee, I talked to her,” International Ski and Snowboard Federation CEO Urs Lehmann told reporters in the finish area. “I don’t know if it’s really heavy and [if] she won’t miss the Olympics. Let’s wait for what the doctors are saying.”
Vonn made a stunning comeback last season at age 40 after nearly six years away from ski racing. Skiing with a partial titanium implant in her right knee, she has been the circuit’s leading downhiller this season with two victories and three other podium finishes in the five races.
Including super-G, Vonn had completed eight World Cup races this season and finished on the podium in seven of them. Her worst finish was fourth.
The crash occurred exactly a week before the Milan Cortina opening ceremony.
Vonn’s first Olympic race is the women’s downhill on February 8. She was also planning on competing in the super-G and the new team combined event at the Games.
Women’s skiing at the Olympics will be held in Cortina d’Ampezzo, where Vonn holds the record of 12 World Cup wins.
Vonn was also planning on racing a super-G in Crans-Montana on Saturday in what would have been her final race before the Games.
Vonn was the sixth racer in Friday’s downhill and had registered the fastest time at the first checkpoint before landing a jump off-balance. She lifted her left arm and pole high into the air in an attempt to regain her balance. As she tried to brake, she got spun around and ended up in the nets.
Two other skiers had also crashed before her: Nina Ortlieb of Austria and Marte Monsen of Norway.
Ortlieb crashed on top in the same area as Vonn and Monsen hit the nets just before the finish area and had to be taken away in a sledge. The race was delayed after both of those crashes. But then two racers – Wiles and Corinne Suter, the Olympic champion, completed their runs.
Wiles barely could make the tight final left-hand turn that had tricked Monsen.
Romane Miradoli of France, who did complete her run as the second to start, said visibility was an issue, with snow falling.
“You can’t see,” Miradoli said, “and it’s bumpy everywhere.”
Asked if it was dangerous, Miradoli added, “We just couldn’t see well.”
Vonn has had numerous crashes in her career. One of her worst was at the 2013 world championships in Schladming, Austria, during a super-G that was also held in difficult conditions. Vonn then had to be airlifted off the course and tore apart her right knee. She returned the following season, got hurt again and missed the 2014 Sochi Olympics.
The race started Friday in a subdued mood in Crans-Montana, which is coping with the trauma of a devastating fire in a bar in the early hours of New Year’s Day that killed 40 people and injured more than 100. A minute’s silence was observed before racing.
The finish area stripped of colour and the usual sponsor adverts. Instead, it was dressed with white and black banners featuring a ribbon with the words “Our thoughts are with you” written in French, German, Italian and English.
