SI:AM | Crash Puts Lindsey Vonn’s Olympic Comeback in Jeopardy

Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. Now is probably a good time to mention that I’ll be hosting a daily podcast with SI senior editor Mitch Goldich throughout the Winter Olympics. You can subscribe to Daily Rings on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Look for episodes daily on SI’s YouTube channel as well.

In today’s SI:AM:
⛷️ Vonn crashes in Switzerland
🏈 Senior Bowl notes
⚾ MLB bounceback candidates

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Injury concern for Lindsey Vonn

One of the most compelling stories of the upcoming Olympics may have ended before it even started.

Lindsey Vonn, the 41-year-old Alpine skiing legend who was attempting to make her first Olympic appearance in eight years, crashed this morning in her final race before the start of the Winter Games. She was seen clutching her left knee before a helicopter airlifted her from the course for further evaluation.

Vonn’s crash occurred near the start of her run at the World Cup downhill event at Crans-Montana, Switzerland. She lost control coming down through a turn and slid into the safety netting on the edge of the course.

Here is the replay of Lindsey Vonn’s crash:#FISAlpine | #WorldCupCransMontana pic.twitter.com/1xhAuQanP0
— Team USA Olympics Updates and Coverage (@TeamUSAOLYCov) January 30, 2026

After being attended to by medics, she got back on her feet and skied slowly down the rest of the course, stopping twice to grab her left knee. (She had her right knee surgically repaired in 2024.) She was then attached to a helicopter’s hoist cable along with two medics and taken away to a hospital.

Vonn was the sixth skier to race on Friday, and two of the previous five also crashed. The rest of the day’s racing was called off due to poor conditions after Vonn was left limping.

“I know she hurt her knee. I talked to her,” International Ski and Snowboard Federation CEO Urs Lehmann told reporters. “I don’t know if it’s really heavy and [if] she won’t miss the Olympics. Let’s wait for what the doctors are saying.”

Vonn was expected to be one of the biggest stars at these Olympics. She has won three Olympic medals (a gold and a bronze in 2010, and another bronze in ’18), as well as eight World Championships podium finishes (including two golds). She retired in 2019, citing persistent knee injuries. When a right knee replacement surgery in 2024 alleviated the pain that had caused her to retire, Vonn staged an unexpected comeback.

“My injuries held me back,” Vonn told Sports Illustrated’s Greg Bishop last year. “I didn’t miss it. I was in so much pain the last few years of my career, that it was time; I was at peace with being finished. I didn’t have any regrets about it. But, of course, I missed going fast.”

She got back to going fast—faster than any woman in the world this year. Vonn’s performance on the World Cup circuit this season made her the gold medal favorite in the downhill. She’s No. 1 in the world rankings in that event, with two wins in five races, and also ranks second in the Super-G. Fortuitously, this year’s Olympic women’s alpine skiing events will be held at the Olympia delle Tofane, where Vonn has won more races in both the downhill and Super-G than any skier in history.

Vonn’s first event of the Olympics is less than a week away. The first training run in the women’s downhill is scheduled for Feb. 5, with the medal race on Feb. 8. The women’s Super-G is on Feb. 12.

If Vonn is healthy enough to compete, she could become the oldest Alpine skier ever to win an Olympic medal. That honor currently belongs to France’s Johan Clarey, who won silver in the men’s downhill in 2022 at 41 years, 30 days old. The women’s record belongs to… Lindsey Vonn, who was 33 years, 126 days old when she won bronze in the downhill in 2018.

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