With the 2026 Winter Olympics taking place in Milano Cortina, Italy, viewers can enjoy competitions in sports such as ice hockey, ski mountaineering, bobsleigh, and more.
In terms of skiing, disciplines such as alpine, cross-country, ski jumping, Nordic combined, freestyle, and snowboarding are all put on display by competitors from all over the world.
During the women’s downhill alpine skiing event, however, tragedy struck for United States skier Lindsey Vonn. On the course, Vonn took a horrifying crash, missing her mark by mere inches. 13 seconds into her first competitive run on Sunday, Feb. 8, the 41-year-old lost control and had to be airlifted off the mountain.
Although the Olympic Games viewership isn’t public, it’s estimated that over 28 million people watched the opening ceremony, leaving me to question just how many people watched Vonn fall and wait 13 minutes to be airlifted to the hospital.
Following her crash, Vonn underwent three surgeries in hopes of repairing what she called a “complex” tibia fracture, with her most recent surgery occurring on Wednesday, Feb. 11. She shared via her post on Instagram that the surgery was successful and showed off her metal frame attachment on her leg, likely used to stabilize it during the critical period of restoration.
Despite the long recovery ahead of her, Vonn shared on Instagram that she’s surrounded by her family and is making slow progress day by day.
Skiing is known to be hard, especially on one’s knees, joints, and ligaments due to the constant force, torque, and pressure on these areas. Although injury can be preventable, fatigue and heavy usage, since skiing is a demanding sport on the body, create a breeding ground for injury. The constant twisting, change of directions, and high speeds are often a recipe for disaster.
Common skiing injuries include ACL tears, medial collateral ligament (MCL) tears, and meniscus sprains and tears, as well as broken bones in the leg, with the tibia being a common area to break.
Vonn is no stranger when it comes to knee and leg injuries. In 2007, she sprained her ACL, followed by a complete tear of her ACL and MCL in 2013. She’s sustained multiple tibial plateau fractures and even a broken ankle over the years of competing.
It was due to her injuries that she announced her retirement in 2019 following the World Championships. However, she underwent knee replacement surgery in 2024 and later announced her comeback to the competitive skiing world, which she stated was possible with the relief the knee replacement offered her.
Unfortunately, her injuries to her knees and legs didn’t stop following the total replacement of her knee.
Even before her crash on the main Olympic stage, Vonn suffered an ACL tear in a crash just over a week prior in the World Cup, on the same leg she later broke in her most recent crash, although in an Instagram post, she claims the prior ACL injury had nothing to do with her televised crash.
Her career may be officially over, but the star has no regrets in chasing her dreams to compete in the Olympics. She even sports a slight smile and a thumbs up in a recent Instagram post after her third surgery, where she thanks the people caring for her and sends her support and congratulations to her teammates.
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