Cheers, gasps, and silence: How it felt on the mountain in Cortina the moment Lindsey Vonn crashed

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“She dared greatly. She put it all out there,” her sister Karin Kildow told NBC. “It’s really hard to see, but we just really hope she’s OK.”

By Katie McInerney, The Boston Globe

February 8, 2026 | 3:32 PM

3 minutes to read

CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy — It was exactly noon at the base of Olimpia Delle Tofane, and a nervous but excited energy hovered in the air.

In the starting gate 750 meters above, Lindsey Vonn was set to begin the women’s downhill race here at the 2026 Winter Olympics, the culmination of a miraculous comeback. Skiing on a right knee filled with titanium and a left knee with a torn ACL, reaching the start was an accomplishment in itself.

But here was the chance to show the world how much Vonn believes in herself. At 41, after six years of retirement and then 14 months of training post-surgery, this was the moment for which she had prepared.

Cheers rang out as the video board showed Vonn about to start her race in bib No. 13. She took deep breaths. She was ready.

Thirteen seconds later, Vonn clipped the fourth gate with the right side of her body, sending her flying through the air. Bouncing onto her right side, she twisted once around before landing hard on the slope. She slid a few meters before coming to a stop with her skis splayed.

Her Olympic comeback was over.

On the ground, a collective gasp escaped from the thousands of fans, media, and staff watching from below.

Then, a stunned silence swept over the stands. The music dimmed. If anyone had been hoping for anything here on Sunday, this was the complete opposite.

Television cameras caught her agonized screams as she lay on the snow.

It was 14 minutes until Vonn was loaded into the basket of a yellow rescue helicopter and whisked away. Three minutes later, as Vonn soared over the assembled, cheers echoed from the crowd.

“Get well soon, Lindsey,” one person yelled.

Is this where it ends for Vonn? Probably. The US ski team only said in a statement on Sunday night that she is stable and suffered an injury. The Associated Press reported Vonn was being “treated by a multidisciplinary team” and “underwent an orthopedic operation to stabilize a fracture reported in her left leg,” according to a statement from the Ca’ Foncello hospital.

Her bid to become the oldest woman to win an Alpine ski medal at the Olympics ended here Sunday at the site of her first World Cup victory all the way back in 2004. There will be no super-G, no team combined.

“She dared greatly. She put it all out there,” her sister Karin Kildow told NBC. “It’s really hard to see, but we just really hope she’s OK.”

This was supposed to be it, anyway. She didn’t intend to finish the World Cup season despite leading the season standings in the downhill by more than 100 points. One more race at her favorite course, then back to the rest of her life as a philanthropist, an investor, and whatever else someone who’s one of the most recognizable skiers in the world chooses to do.

Had she not crashed just nine days ago, gold here on Sunday was hers to take. It went to fellow American Breezy Johnson, who returned to the place where her 2022 Olympic dreams ended to earn the redemption she deserved.

“I don’t claim to know what she’s going through, but I do know what it is to be here, to be fighting for the Olympics and to have this course burn you,” Johnson said after her victory. “To watch those, for me, those dreams die, it was one of the most heartbreaking moments of my life. And I can’t imagine the pain that she’s going through.

“And it’s not the physical pain. We can deal with physical pain. But the emotional pain is something else.”

Vonn revealed her injury on Wednesday and at the same time vowed to race. The physical pain was nonexistent. The emotional pain would be too great if she didn’t try.

She did what she said she was going to do. She got into the starting gate. This time, she didn’t reach the bottom.

Sunday’s race was Vonn’s attempt at another Olympic medal. She has three (one gold, two bronze) to go with 20 World Cup titles (four overall, eight downhill, five super-G, three combined), the most World Cup wins by a woman in downhill (45) and super-G (28), the third-most World Cup races won (84), and eight world championship medals (two gold, three silver, three bronze).

Vonn’s ski racing career is likely over. If this is it, she goes down in history as one of the most successful Alpine skiers ever, man or woman.

But as she’s showed us before, don’t count her out.