Lindsey Vonn is 'confident' she can race at Olympics despite ruptured ACL in left knee

CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy — Lindsey Vonn has done this before. And succeeded.

The 41-year-old American skiing standout is “confident” she can compete at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics despite a torn ACL from a crash four days ago.

Vonn said that the damage to her left knee was a “completely ruptured” ACL, bone bruising “plus meniscal damage.”

After three days of physical therapy and doctors' advice, Vonn tried skiing on Tuesday. She did not appear to be limping as she entered and exited a news conference.

“My knee is not swollen, and with the help of a knee brace, I am confident that I can compete on Sunday," Vonn said. "And as long as there’s a chance, I will try . . . I will do everything in my power to be in the starting gate."

Vonn crashed in a World Cup downhill in Crans-Montana, Switzerland on Friday and ended up in the safety nets. After skiing to the bottom of the course she was taken to hospital.

Vonn is expected to be one of the biggest stars of the Winter Games, which start Friday with the opening ceremony. Her first race comes two days later in the women’s downhill. She also plans on competing in super-G and the new team combined event.

The opening women’s downhill training session is scheduled for Thursday.

“My intention,” Vonn said, “is to race everything.”

Vonn has had long series of injuries, crashes and comebacks

Vonn has had numerous crashes and injuries in her career. One of her worst was at the 2013 world championships in Schladming, Austria during a super-G that was also held in difficult conditions.

Vonn tore her right knee. She returned the following season, got hurt again and missed the 2014 Sochi Olympics.

She was also battered up before the 2019 world championships but took bronze in downhill before going into a nearly six-year retirement.

“I’ve been in this position before. I know how to handle it,” Vonn said. “I feel a lot better now than I did in 2019 . . . And I still got a medal there with no LCL and three tibial plateau fractures. So, like I said, this is not an unknown for me. I’ve done this before.”

She persevered through a bruised shin that she treated with topfen cheese before winning gold in downhill at the 2010 Games.

“I don't need topfen now. My knee isn't swollen,” Vonn said.

It's a home remedy whereby the cheese is applied to the offending area and helps to reduce swelling.

“This would be the best comeback I’ve done so far," Vonn said. "Definitely the most dramatic.”

Other skiers have competed with similar injuries

Teammate Bella Wright said Vonn has what it takes — a strong mental state — to ski through her injuries.

“If anyone can do it, it’s Lindsey,” Wright said.

Breezy Johnson, the downhill and combined world champion, was in a similar situation to Vonn at Cortina during a World Cup weekend in 2022.

“I’ve tried and failed to ski this course with no ACL and that doesn’t mean that she can’t do it,” Johnson said. “There are more athletes that ski without ACLs and with knee damage than what we talk about.”

Andrea Panzeri, the chief physician for the Italian Winter Sports Federation, said numerous athletes have competed at elite level with a torn ACL and other severe knee issues.

Vonn’s fellow downhiller Sofia Goggia came back to win a silver medal at the 2022 Olympics weeks after spraining her left knee, partially tearing her ACL and suffering a “minor fracture” of the fibula bone in her leg — plus some tendon damage.

Italian freetsyle skier Flora Tabanelli tore the ACL in her right knee in November but put off surgery until after the Olympics.

Tabanelli is 18, though.

“But (Vonn) has experience, the physical ability and the experience on this course,” Panzeri said. “If she decides to try and race, it’s because her clinical condition and her doctors are allowing her to. She doesn’t have anything to lose. I think it’s worth a try.”

Vonn has a titanium implant in her right knee

Vonn made a stunning comeback last season after nearly six years away. Skiing with a partial titanium implant in her right knee, she has been the circuit’s leading downhiller this season with two victories and three other podium finishes in five races.

Including super-G, Vonn completed eight World Cup races and finished on the podium in seven of them. Her worst finish was fourth.

Women’s skiing during the Games will be in Cortina, where Vonn holds the World Cup record with 12 wins.

She has won three Olympic medals: Gold in downhill and bronze in super-G in 2010 and bronze in downhill in 2018.

Vonn visits grave of childhood coach in Austria

It hasn’t just been about recovery for Vonn these past few days.

On her way to Cortina, she stopped at the grave of her childhood coach Erich Sailer, who died in August aged 99.

Sailer coached Vonn at Buck Hill in Minnesota. He’s buried just outside Innsbruck, Austria.

Vonn said she shed some tears during the graveside visit – the only tears she’s shed these past few days.

“I miss him. And I know exactly what he would say to me right now. And it definitely gives me additional hope that I know that he would support me,” Vonn added.

“He would say, ‘It’s only 90 seconds. What’s 90 seconds in a lifetime? It’s nothing. You can do it.’” Vonn said. “That’s what he said to me before my last run in Are, and I know he would say it to me again today.”

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Associated Press writer Jennifer McDermott contributed.