Lindsey Vonn is among the 48 athletes nominated to the U.S. Alpine ski team for next season in the strongest sign yet that she will return to the sport after her horror crash at the Winter Olympics.
While the former Olympic gold medalist’s selection is just a formality based on her results from last year, Vonn has teased the possibility of returning to the slopes while battling through her rehabilitation.
The 41-year-old is still at least a year and a half – along with another ACL surgery – away from even thinking about returning to the World Cup circuit.
Vonn has already undergone eight surgeries since her crash in the women’s downhill race on February 8 at the Milan Cortina Games.
She suffered a complex tibia fracture that nearly led to amputating her left leg. Vonn was competing in the race on a torn left ACL, which she injured in a crash leading into the Winter Olympics.
The nomination process is the first phase of making the U.S. Ski & Snowboard team.
Lindsey Vonn i s among 48 athletes to be nominated to the U.S. Alpine ski team for next season
Vonn has had eight surgeries after suffering a complex left leg fracture at the Winter Olympics
Those ski racers who accept the nomination, and meet the requirements, will be officially announced to the team in October. The opening World Cup races take place with a giant slalom in Soelden, Austria, in late October.
Other athletes who were nominated include Mikaela Shiffrin, the reigning World Cup overall champion and three-time Olympic gold medalist, along with Olympic downhill champion Breezy Johnson.
On the men’s side, Ryan Cochran-Siegle, who captured his second Olympic super-G silver medal in Italy, was selected.
Vonn, a three-time Olympic medalist, came out of retirement in November 2024 after nearly six years away. She was feeling healthy and strong again following a partial titanium implant in her right knee.
She found her speed, too, winning two World Cup races during the 2025-26 season and recording three other podium finishes in five races. She was leading the World Cup downhill standings before her crash at the Olympics. She wound up fifth.
Vonn, who’s won 84 World Cup races, has maintained she’s not ready to decide her future. Instead, she’s focused on healing.
The Winter Olympics gold medalist dazzled as she attended the Met Gala on Monday evening
This week she made a huge leap forward in her recovery, however, when she took her first steps without the aid of crutches at the 2026 Met Gala.
Vonn was invited to attend the exclusive glitzy event at the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art in New York City on Monday night.
The dress code for this year’s fashion spectacular was Fashion Is Art and Vonn dressed for the occasion with her own interpretation.
Dressed by Thom Browne, she sported a glamorous beaded white mermaid gown with an inky black pattern overlayed and a large tulle trim.
Yet, the most striking aspect of Vonn’s appearance was the lack of crutches. The mobility aids have been her permanent accessories for the past three months but she admitted she had earmarked the Met Gala as the ‘light at the end of the tunnel’ in her long rehabilitation.
The American fashion house even designed a custom cane for Vonn to use for the opulent occasion as she stepped out without her crutches.
Vonn last attended the Met Gala in 2013 with then-boyfriend Tiger Wods, She wore a sleek, high-neck white gown for the occasion, while the golf star opted for a simple black suit. They broke up in 2015.
Vonn still needs at least one more surgery to repair a torn ACL in her knee and she recently admitted that she remains in ‘survival mode’ following the sickening crash.
Vonn has previously hinted she could defy the odds and race again despite her horror leg break
‘I think you have to be reflective. And I haven’t really been able to be that reflective yet, because I’m still in survival mode,’ she told CNN.
‘I’m still really fighting my way through it. I’ve tried to start my therapy with my therapist and I just can’t really get there yet. And there will be a lesson. And, you know, I always try to look at the positives of everything.
‘Maybe this is going to be the best thing that’s ever happened to me in my life. Maybe some door will open that would never otherwise be open to me.
‘So as horrible as this is and as hard as it is, like, who knows where the future will take me in? I’m just kind of along for the ride.’
