MILAN — If a torn anterior cruciate ligament didn’t stop 41-year-old Lindsey Vonn from pursuing an Olympic gold medal, could she become the world’s best skier?
That’s the question on every spectator’s mind at the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics when the women’s downhill final begins on Sunday.
Downhill is already one of alpine skiing’s signature events, with women racing down the mountain at 80 miles per hour, around curves and over jumps. And Vonn was, without exaggeration, already the biggest star of this Olympics. But Sunday’s competition in Cortina, Italy, is attracting more interest than usual. That’s because the world is waiting for answers on whether Vonn will manage to win a medal just nine days after she fell and tore a ligament important to stabilizing her left knee.
Vonn will be attempting to win the downhill event for the first time in 16 years since winning at the Vancouver Olympics. She has won two Olympic bronze medals in her career so far, in downhill in 2018 and super-G in 2010.
When Vonn announced she would come out of retirement in 2024, she was already facing the twin challenges of health and rust. Injuries forced her to retire five years ago. But a surgically replaced right knee and a new coach gave Vonn a lot of confidence, and she said it was her most consistently healthy season in a decade. Both helped her finish on the podium in all five World Cup races she competed in this season, including two wins, making her the oldest person to win on the prestigious ski circuit. These performances seemed to put an end to the question of whether her ambitions to medal in Cortina were genuine or a bizarre quest.
But a crash in Crans-Montana, Switzerland, late last month that required airlifting once again cast doubt on his ability to beat the world’s top skiers.
However, Vonn did not undergo surgery and had two successful knee tests during training on Friday and Saturday and was wearing a brace. On that occasion, she reached speeds of 110 km/h and finished with the third fastest time of the day, but bad weather forced her to stop training about halfway through the field.
In the final, Vonn will have the advantage of familiarity. She said the Cortina course was her favorite race and a big factor in her desire to return for the Olympics. Of her 84 World Cup wins, 12 have come in Cortina.
However, Vonn had to push her knees further than she had in either of her two training runs and was seen dropping back on some turns to avoid putting too much strain on them before the main event. One of her strongest rivals for a medal could be fellow American Breezy Johnson, who set the top time in Saturday’s practice.
ACL injuries have long been one of the most serious injuries in sports, typically requiring at least six months of strenuous recovery. The fact that she was able to compete in the Olympics just over a week after the tear was met with incredulity, including from doctors known for their social media accounts that analyze sports injuries.
“My anterior cruciate ligament was fully functional until last Friday,” Vonn replied on Saturday. “Just because it seems impossible to you doesn’t mean it isn’t. And yes, my ACL is 100% torn. Not 80% or 50%. It’s 100% gone.”
But money isn’t what she wants.
