Linsey Vonn's Olympic Status in the Air

USA’s “Speed Queen”, Lindsey Vonn’s Olympic status is now up in the air after receiving and airlift to the hospital following a crash at the final FIS Alpine Skiing Women’s World Cup in Switzerland, one week ahead of the Milano-Cortina Olympic Games. She was seen clutching her left knee and limping on her way down the hill. 

Vonn wrote to Instagram saying her “Olympic dream is not over,” in her encouraging update. In the post she said “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 downhill powerhouse returned to competition in 2024, five years after announcing her retirement from the sport. Vonn retired in 2019 due to chronic pain in her right knee and is now competing with titanium implants. Throughout her career she has dealt with multiple injuries including ACL tears. 

Vonn is set to make history as the oldest woman to compete in Alpine Racing in the Olympics, again proving age is just a number. Earlier this season she dominated the slopes once again, taking the win by 0.98 seconds, a massive margin in downhill skiing, after trailing the first two time checks by 0.61, making history as the oldest competitor, at 41, with a previous high of 37. 

The Milano-Cortina Games would mark Vonn’s fifth Olympic appearance. In 2010, she brought home her first two Olympic medals, with a gold for Downhill and a bronze for Super-G. In 2018 she added another bronze in the Super-G event. Her Olympic career began in 2006 at the Torino Games in Italy, if able to return her Olympic career will come full circle ending where it all began, in Italy.