The impossible mission is beginning to look plausible. Barely a week after being airlifted off a Swiss mountain, Lindsey Vonn’s descents down the pistes of Cortina are making a mockery of the assumption that an Olympic podium cannot be climbed on one good leg.
From 11th in practice on Friday to third in the final warm-up run on Saturday, the 41-year-old is heading to Sunday’s downhill race at the kind of speed that seemed desperately unrealistic upon arrival in Italy.
Now, it seems reasonable to reinstate the American as a contender, even with ruptured cruciate ligaments in her left knee and the poor aerodynamics of a support brace. On the latter, her coach Aksel Lund Svindal half-joked on Saturday that Vonn might even be tempted to remove it, such has been her progress this week.
He said: ‘It will, for sure affect the aerodynamics negatively, but I think that’s minor. We’re not focusing on that, because if she starts to ask to take the brace away, I think there’s a couple of doctors that would have something to say about that.
‘So, please don’t ask her that question (laughs).’
The subject of doctors is relevant here – there have been a number who have queried Vonn’s wisdom in racing on such a severe injury. Others, less qualified, have used social media to intimate the damage cannot be as bad as first disclosed, with the theory that the American is milking the publicity.
Lindsey Vonn finished third in her final warm-up run ahead of the Winter Olympic final race
The 41-year-old is competing in Cortina despite tearing her ACL just one week before the event
The American will complete a miraculous comeback in the downhill event on Sunday
Vonn’s reaction has been as aggressive as her skiing, with multiple retorts posted on her X account, along with the mildly shocking admission that she is racing without painkillers. For those reasons and many others, it will be remarkable if she leaves Italy with a medal, let alone a second gold 16 years after her first.
Svindal’s confidence appears to be growing on that front. ‘Today was important, and she did pretty good,’ he said. ‘She was very calm when she came down. She talked about skiing and was calm and didn’t talk about the knee at all. And then I didn’t want to ask either, because I figured that’s a good sign.
‘How I’ve learned to know her is when she’s calm it means she feels like she has it under control.
‘She knows she’ll have to push harder tomorrow, because the rest of the girls will, and it’s the Olympic downhill. You’re not going to get away with a medal here unless you push hard.
‘She is good enough to win this race, hopefully. But her mental strength, I think that’s why she has won as much as she has. And she also has some experience now, at 41 years old. I think that’s what she needs to bring out tomorrow.’
