Watch: US Skier Lindsey Vonn Takes to the Olympic Slopes a Week After Tearing Her ACL
The Olympic gold medal for sheer guts already goes to Lindsey Vonn, who on Friday completed a training run in the downhill event one week after she was airlifted off a Swiss mountain with a torn ACL in her left knee.
With this year’s Winter Olympics in the Italian cities of Cortina and Milan, Vonn is on familiar ground.
The 41-year-old has racked up 12 World Cup wins over the years in Cortina, including six in the downhill, and is competing in what is likely her final Olympics, according to Fox News.
“Nothing makes me happier! No one would have believed I would be here,” Vonn wrote in an Instagram post Friday before the training run. “But I made it!! I’m here, I’m smiling and no matter what, I know how lucky I am. I’m not going to waste this chance. Let’s go get it!!”
Watch her run below:
Just one week after tearing her ACL, Lindsey Vonn has completed her Olympic training run in Cortina.
The women’s downhill competition takes place this Sunday. pic.twitter.com/FgEG8xkWTI
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) February 6, 2026
Earlier this week, Vonn summed up the extent of her injuries.
“I completely ruptured my ACL. I also have bone bruising, which is a common injury when you tear your ACL, plus meniscal damage, which we’re not sure if that was preexisting or from the crash,” she said Tuesday, according to Fox.
Vonn said then that “considering how my knee feels, I feel stable, I feel strong,” according to NBC.
“My knee is not swollen, and with the help of a knee brace, I am confident that I can compete on Sunday,” she said,
“I know what my chances were before the crash, and I know my chances aren’t the same as it stands today, but I know there’s still a chance and as long as there’s a chance, I will try,” she said.
SportsVision: Skiing great Lindsey Vonn has crashed at Crans-Montana, one week before the Olympics and injured her left knee! Here is video confirmation of Lindsey Vonn being airlifted to the hospital after her crash. Vonn hopes to recover in time for the Milan Cortina Winter… pic.twitter.com/R7Pfyvfjnl
— John Cremeans (@JohnCremeansX) January 30, 2026
Taking an upbeat tone, she told the media on Tuesday, “I also know what my knee has felt like with previous injuries in the gym, and what it’s felt like during all the physical tests, and I can say that I feel a lot better right now than I have in the past. I feel a lot better right now than I did in 2019 for the last World Championships, and I still got a medal there.”
Vonn will be seeking her fourth Olympic medal 16 years after rocking the sports world by taking gold in the Vancouver Games, according to Yahoo Sports.
Completing the training run was required. Vonn missed a chance Thursday when bad weather led to cancellations.
Friday’s time of 1:40.33 placed Vonn 11th out of 43 finishers.
Lindsey Vonn has just posted a video of her squatting and doing other exercises while having a ruptured ACL.
Her toughness is on another level.
(🎥: LindseyVonn/IG)#MilanoCortina2026 | #WinterOlympics | #Olympics | #AlpineSkiing pic.twitter.com/k6INJoEXJf
— Team USA Olympics Updates and Coverage (@TeamUSAOLYCov) February 5, 2026
Dr. Yair David Kissin of the Hackensack University Medical Center in Hackensack, New Jersey, told Yahoo Sports that Vonn’s return to competition was a “great example that every case needs to be individualized.”
“It brings tears to my eyes as a sports medicine ACL doctor, a knee doctor, that she can attain that level of athleticism, of performance, after going through what she’s gone through,” he said. “Nobody sees the work she put in. You have to respect and appreciate that,” he said.
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