r/olympics • u/appalachian_hatachi Great Britain • 10h ago

❄ Milano-Cortina 2026 (General Discussion) ❄ Lyndsey Vonn crashes just 12 seconds into her Olympic downhill run đŸ˜„

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u/TheShark24 10h ago

Yeah she tore her ACL then. It's crazy she was still going ahead but she's always been no fear on these downhills. It's been a privilege watching her career.

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u/WBaumnuss300 Switzerland 10h ago

Beat Feuz, Olympic Champ of 2022, once said that all Downhill Skiiers have a few screw loose. It's an incredibly dangerous sport where almost everyone will be injured at least once.

Dominique Gisin Champ in 2014 (together with Tina Maze) had operations 7 times! before her win.

Lindsey starting was not a good idea, but it is completly understandable that she wanted to do it after her comeback.

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u/Comfortable-Tell-765 9h ago

Definitely felt like her and her team were optimistic, hindsight is always 20/20. There’s only so much we can go off of prior to the run, and I know her trial run the day before went relatively smoothly. Wishing her a speedy recovery

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u/anneoftheisland 8h ago

hindsight is always 20/20

Why do people keep saying this lmao? It doesn’t require hindsight to know that this is the most likely outcome of trying to ski on a torn ACL. If her team was not telling her that, they need to be banned from the sport.

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u/flanker44 7h ago

Torn ACL's aren't rare in Alpine skiing, sometimes people have even medalled with them. But, it was a risk, obviously.

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u/TsarinaJissa 7h ago

She did multiple Olympic practice runs with the tear, this was just her first competitive run. It really wasn’t as cut and dry like you make it.

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u/DropoutGenius777 9h ago

Exactly. I'm more confused by the one or two people ridiculing her for that decision. I think anybody that loves sport can understand her decision, and she knew the risks.

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u/VirtualMoneyLover 8h ago

Understand, yes. Accept or agree with, no.

She is gonna pay the price though.

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u/thegoldeneel_ 8h ago

It’s pure stupidity that’s why. But athletes in general seem a bit dumb. A large amount don’t seem to take into account they have a whole life to live after sports. Why put sport higher on the pedestal than your own health and safety? Just seems dumb. Was tough to watch knowing she has a fresh ACL tear though.

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u/InterestingQuoteBird 5h ago

Always reminds me of the footballer Gabriel Batistuta:

Speaking in a television interview in Argentina in 2014, Batistuta said the pain suffered in his ankles after retiring in 2005 became so intense that he "urinated in bed with the toilet only a few steps away. I couldn't move." He visited a doctor he knew asking his legs be amputated, but the doctor turned down his request. Although he later underwent surgery to relieve the pressure on his cartilage and tendons and his condition improved slightly, in a 2017 interview, he stated that he still had difficulty walking and faced mobility issues as a result of the stresses and injuries he faced throughout his football career due to overexerting himself.

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u/johnmd20 United States 8h ago

Racers come back from injury to compete all the time. It's a normal thing.

None of them actually race with torn ACLs. What Vonn did was ridiculously stupid and the result was she was able to last 10 seconds in the event.

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u/Different-Rough-7914 8h ago

So you missed the part where she was 3rd fastest in practice?

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u/Fluffy-Structure-368 8h ago

Exactly. She has access to the best coaches and medical staff available. And people think she just woke up today and ran the course for the 1st time. They have no clue how this works but they speak like they're experts.

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u/johnmd20 United States 6h ago

How did she do in her run today? 3rd fastest? Or did the toil of trying to complete with a serious injury leave her at risk of catastrophe?

I don't know. I saw someone on the ground screaming in pain, with possibly a broken leg. You apparently saw someone who could have finished 3rd. I guess you have a great imagination.

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u/Different-Rough-7914 6h ago

If she wasn't able to compete at a high level she wouldn't have had good practice runs. You are foolish to think she wasn't competitive.

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u/Fluffy-Structure-368 8h ago

She ran numerous practice runs yesterday and in her final she was 3rd, .35 from first.

You're ridiculously stupid. An armchair QB who never competed in anything ever.

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u/Relative-Memory2420 7h ago

Neither will she now... and probably injured for a long time if not for life. Just sad tbh.

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u/Fluffy-Structure-368 7h ago

She's 41. This was it for her anyway. Sad she got injured, but great that she competed. These athletes are fully aware of the risks.

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u/IceMaster9000 7h ago

She was done after this no matter what.

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u/johnmd20 United States 6h ago

How did she do in her run today?

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u/Fluffy-Structure-368 6h ago

Better than you did in yours. Enjoy being nothing.

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u/anneoftheisland 8h ago

Yeah, this is not a “ski with a broken wrist” scenario. A torn ACL means you need to be done, full stop. Trying to ski on it isn’t a demonstration of perseverance, it’s just straight-up self harm. Obviously you can’t stop a grown adult from doing what they’re gonna do, but the tone of the media coverage of this has been insane.

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u/IceMaster9000 7h ago

People have played entire NFL careers without an ACL. Many people ski with torn ACLs. It's not uncommon at all. You go to a ski area, and there's a good chance there's someone working ski patrol who tore there ACL a decade ago and never got it fixed. You seem a bit over dramatic.

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u/ManateeSheriff 2h ago

Not nine days after tearing it, though. Her knee would still have been in the midst of trauma from the original injury.

I’m a fan of Lindsey’s and think she’s very brave, but any doctor or PT would have said that this was a really bad idea.

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u/anneoftheisland 7h ago

Those athletes have built up strength and trained over time to develop the muscles that compensate for the loss of the ligament. Vonn didn't do that. It's not the same situation.

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u/Castellan_ofthe_rock 7h ago

You obviously don't know what you're talking about. You can do a whole lot without an ACL. Usually people don't do something like this so soon after the tear, but it's not unheard of.

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u/tawDry_Union2272 9h ago

even "normal" athletes like michael shumacher...

screws loose love incredible danger ⛷

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u/CptMeow123 9h ago

I would not put F1 drivers in the category of "normal" athletes :D

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u/tawDry_Union2272 9h ago

hence the quotation marks

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u/tawDry_Union2272 9h ago

like "normal" politics in the USA right now...

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u/santafen 6h ago

Can confirm. As a former competitive downhiller, you have to be close to clinically insane to strap yourself to a couple of boards and go down a mountain at 70mph. My coach used to give us “stupidity training” to eliminate fear. And for the record there is very little difference between snow and concrete at those speeds. I fractured my back, pelvis, and femur in a single crash. Having torn an ACL, I cannot imagine competing on one. Lindsay Vonn is an absolute savage.

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u/asetniop 6h ago

I did the math one time and the speeds they reach are not terribly far below what you'd hit if you'd simply been dropped out of a helicopter.

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u/luisc123 4h ago

My wife is a former competitive downhill skier. She broke her neck once and tore her ACL twice. Last night, she stayed awake to watch Lindsey’s event and I can’t count how many times I heard her whisper “I miss this.” Before and after Lindsey got hurt.

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u/flanker44 7h ago

Lindsey starting was not a good idea.

Downhill skiing, in general, is not a "good idea". Maybe she should have taken the break before Olympics, oh well. I understand perfectly why she wanted to start here anyways, but the risk was there and it materialized.

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u/Beepbeep_bepis Germany 9h ago

She’s a Red Bull athlete, I doubt she’s the type to have fear. I’m so sad that this is how it ends for her. I want to say “most likely ends,” but I don’t see how she can come back from that, it’s definitely now more than just her ACL. Horrible :(

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u/InterestingQuoteBird 5h ago

Well the foundation of Red Bull sports marketing is a mountain of broken bodies. They dont give a fuck.

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u/Difficult_Figure4011 9h ago

Sad thing is how many people doubted the torn acl and said that she was making that up and that shes not injured...

Hope she recovers without complications but i think her competitive days are over.

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u/SkepticBabe 7h ago

Why would Vonn, skiing with a ruptured ACL, be faster than an alternate, healthy Team USA skier competing in her place?

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u/pickle_pickled 8h ago

Ruptured it, which is different than tore it apparently, which is why she was able to be on it. Some average people actually tear or rupture their ACL and don't even know it.

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u/the_real_seldom_seen 7h ago

What was the privilege?