Frivolous matters such as a torn ACL are not enough to prevent Lindsey Vonn from completing the comeback of a lifetime at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo in Italy.
Off the back of a crash in the FIS World Cup downhill event at Crans-Montana in Switzerland, Vonn suffered an injury to her knee that threatened her Olympic return.
However, she has decided to fight through the injury and is taking part in the downhill at Cortina to cap off her return to the sport after retiring a second time in 2019.
On Friday afternoon in Italy, just one week after the crash in Switzerland, Vonn completed a training run down the Olimpia delle Tofane course just two days before she is set to compete for a medal.
Midway down the course, Vonn went wide – forcing her to correct and only barely clearing the gate. Her line forced another close call at the following gate as well.
At the end of the training run, Vonn placed 11th among the 47 competitors. She was the third best American behind sixth-place Wyoming native Breezy Johnson and Oregon’s Jacqueline Wiles, who finished with the best time of the day of 1:38.94.
Lindsey Vonn completed her first Olympic training run less than a week after tearing her ACL
Vonn finished 11th in the training after her gruesome injury at Crans-Montana in Switzerland
Vonn has won 12 FIS World Cup races at the Olimpia delle Tofane course in Cortina d’Ampezzo
A curt Vonn was asked by the Associated Press if the run went well. ‘Yep,’ was her reply.
Vonn is able to compete with a large brace on her knee to provide extra support in spite of such a serious injury.
But the 41-year-old skiing icon is not letting this injury get in the way of her journey to return to the Olympics after previously stopping her days of competition in 2019.
“Nothing makes me happier! No one would have believed I would be here,” Vonn posted to her Instagram account before her run.
“But I made it!! I’m here, I’m smiling and no matter what, I know how lucky I am. I’m not going to waste this chance. Let’s go get it!!”
Cortina is a course that Vonn knows well, having won a record 12 World Cup wins at the piste in northeast Italy.
After the first training run on Thursday was cancelled, Vonn will have one more training run on Saturday before Sunday’s final.
