Skiing legend bets on Lindsey Vonn despite serious knee injury

Lindsey Vonn has injured her knee just days before the downhill race at the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics.

It was the U.S. skier herself who made the dramatic announcement at a press conference. The 41-year-old champion ruptured her cruciate ligament during the race in Crans-Montana but explained that she will be on the slope regularly in Cortina and will do everything she can to win a medal.

The American skier will be on the slope regularly in Cortina and will do everything she can to win a medal.

According to ’former ski champion Marc Girardelli, Vonn will be able to have her say during Sunday’s race: “Physically, it won’t be a problem for her; if anything, it will be a psychological problem, because obviously the’injury is haunting her” are his words to ‘Heute’. “I myself competed for years without a cruciate ligament and even managed to win my last World Cup title in 1993”.

“This was possible because my muscles held my knee together. The resulting pain is a’different story. The same goes for Vonn: she is in excellent physical shape and will be able to have her say. The knee is never fully extended during a downhill, it is always bent. Moreover, she knows the Cortina slope well, she has a lot of experience and mentally she is solid”.

“If he went down the slope even at 90 percent speed, he would definitely win a medal. And I would take my hat off to her right away if she could pull off this feat”.

Lindsey Vonn won an Olympic gold medal in the downhill race in Vancouver in 2010: if she could repeat 16 years later, and with an injured knee to boot, it would be a’memorable feat.