Lindsey Vonn’s father has declared that the American superstar will no longer race after breaking her leg at the Winter Olympics.
“She’s 41 years old and this is the end of her career,” Alan Kildow told The Associated Press. “There will be no more ski races for Lindsey Vonn, as long as I have anything to say about it.”
Kildow and the rest of Vonn’s family – including her brother and two sisters – have been with Vonn while she is being treated at a hospital in Treviso following her fall and helicopter evacuation from the course in Cortina Sunday.
The hospital released a statement late Sunday, saying Vonn had undergone surgery on her left leg, and the U.S. Ski Team said she was in stable condition. There have not been other updates since.
Kildow declined to comment on details of Vonn’s injuries, but he did address how she was doing emotionally.
“She’s a very strong individual,” Kildow said. “She knows physical pain and she understands the circumstances that she finds herself in. And she’s able to handle it. Better than I expected. She’s a very, very strong person. And so I think she’s handling it real well.”
Kildow — a former ski racer himself who taught his daughter to race — said he slept in his daughter’s hospital room overnight.
“She has somebody with her — or multiple people with her — at all times,” Kildow said. “We’ll have people here as long as she’s here.”
Kildow and the rest of Vonn’s family watched the crash from the finish area with all of the other spectators.
“First, the shock and the horror of the whole thing, seeing a crash like that,” Kildow said of what he felt watching the scene unfold.
“It can be dramatic and traumatic. You’re just horrified at what those kinds of impacts have.
“You can go into a shock an emotional psychological shock,” he added.
“Because it’s difficult to just accept what’s happened. But she’s well cared for. … And the USOC and the U.S. Ski team have a very, very top-notch doctor with her and she is being very well cared for here in Italy.”
