The day following an incident that put her participation in the upcoming Winter Olympics in jeopardy, Lindsey Vonn opted out of her planned World Cup super-G event on Saturday, without offering a clear statement on her condition for the Games starting next week.
Vonn sustained damage to her left knee subsequent to a tumble during Friday’s World Cup downhill competition held in Crans-Montana, Switzerland. She announced via Instagram on Saturday her decision to forego the super-G race.
“Currently doing all I can,” was her caption in the Instagram update.
Despite the setback, Vonn has not yet excluded herself from participating in the Olympic Games. Following a prediction market monitoring account’s assertion, “Lindsey Vonn’s aerial evacuation mere days before the Winter Games represents a harsh market correction. The public invested in the story, but the laws of physics dictated the outcome,” Vonn responded curtly: “Physics determined the outcome? No, I determine the outcome.”
At an early stage of Friday’s descent, Vonn experienced a loss of equilibrium after a jump, sliding backward into protective netting. After receiving attention from medical staff for several minutes, she managed to rise, leveraging her poles for stability while clutching her injured left knee.
Vonn proceeded cautiously to the finish, pausing multiple times, prior to hobbling into a medical shelter. Subsequently, she was transported by helicopter.
Through an Instagram update, Vonn communicated on Friday that she is “consulting with her physicians and support staff and will continue to undergo additional diagnostic tests.
“This is an extremely challenging development just a week ahead of the Olympics… however, if there’s anything I excel at, it’s returning stronger. … My aspiration for the Olympics remains alive.”
Vonn, at 41 years old, became the third competitor to fall during the World Cup event in Crans-Montana. The competition was called off after Vonn’s run because of inadequate visibility.
“The primary concern revolves around the participants’ safety,” stated Peter Gerdol, the Women’s World Cup Race Director. “Visibility progressively deteriorated, preventing them from clearly discerning the course, which led to errors. We observed six athletes begin, and all six encountered issues. This indicated a dangerously high-risk scenario. While we acknowledge skiing is inherently perilous, the perceived level of danger was excessive. Consequently, the Jury opted to halt the event.”
Vonn stepped away from competitive skiing in 2019, yet she found her competitive drive reignited after observing the 2022 Olympics held in Beijing. She had a knee replacement operation in 2024, and in December, she secured her initial World Cup victory in almost six years, affirming her return to the sport. Her winning streak continued with another triumph earlier this month.
Vonn claimed a gold medal in the downhill event and a bronze in the super-G during the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, subsequently earning an additional bronze medal in downhill at the 2018 Games hosted in Pyeongchang.
The women’s Olympic downhill competition is scheduled for February 8th at the Tofane Alpine Skiing Centre, located in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy.
