A day after a crash that threatens her availability for the Winter Olympics, Lindsey Vonn withdrew from her scheduled World Cup super-G race on Saturday but provided no definitive update on her status for next week’s Games.
Vonn injured her left knee after a fall during Friday’s World Cup downhill race in Crans-Montana, Switzerland. She posted on Instagram on Saturday that she would not be racing in the super-G.
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“Doing my best right now,” she wrote in the post.
Vonn has yet to rule herself out from competing in the Olympics despite the injury. After a social media account that tracks prediction markets declared, “Lindsey Vonn being airlifted days before the Winter Games is a brutal market correction. The public had bet on the narrative, but physics had the final say,” Vonn offered a terse reply: “Physics had the final say? No, I have the final say.”
Early in Friday’s run, Vonn lost balance following a jump and skidded into safety nets while on her back. After being tended to for several minutes by medical personnel, she stood up by using her poles to steady herself while grabbing at her left knee.
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Vonn skied slowly to the finish line, stopping several times, before limping into a medical tent. She was then airlifted out via helicopter.
In a post on her Instagram, Vonn said Friday she’s “discussing the situation with my doctors and team and will continue to undergo further exams.
“This is a very difficult outcome one week before the Olympics… but if there’s one thing I know how to do, it’s a comeback. … My Olympic dream is not over.”
The 41-year-old Vonn was the third skier to crash in the World Cup race in Crans-Montana. The race was canceled following Vonn’s run due to poor visibility.
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“The main reason is the safety of the athletes,” said Women’s World Cup Race Director Peter Gerdol. “The visibility was getting worse and worse, they couldn’t see the race line properly and it caused mistakes. We saw six athletes starting and all six had some mistakes. This was a sign that it was a high-risk situation. We know that our sport is a risky sport, but the feeling was too much risk. That’s why the Jury decided to stop the race.”
Vonn retired in 2019, but felt her competitive spark return after watching the 2022 Olympics in Beijing. She underwent knee replacement surgery in 2024 and in December won her first World Cup race in nearly six years to validate her comeback. She won again earlier this month.
Vonn won gold in the downhill and bronze in the super-G at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics and picked up another bronze medal in downhill at the 2018 Games in Pyeongchang.
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The Olympic women’s downhill will take place on Feb. 8 at Tofane Alpine Skiing Centre in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy.
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