Olympic Star Lindsey Vonn Suffers Devastating Injury After Crash

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American alpine ski racer Lindsey Vonn broke her leg during the women’s downhill event at the 2026 Winter Olympics.

Vonn, who was skiing on a torn ACL, was airlifted off the slopes and transferred to a hospital after the frightening crash.

“Vonn had surgery at Ca’Foncello Hospital to stabilize a broken left leg,” USA TODAY reports.

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U.S. Ski said Vonn is in stable condition. She was treated by a multidisciplinary team and “underwent an orthopedic operation to stabilize a fracture reported in her left leg,” the Ca’ Foncello hospital said in a statement to the AP.

“She’ll be OK, but it’s going to be a bit of a process,” Anouk Patty, chief of sport for U.S. Ski and Snowboard told AP. “This sport’s brutal and people need to remember when they’re watching (that) these athletes are throwing themselves down a mountain and going really, really fast.”

Vonn hooked the fourth gate with her right arm, and it spun her off-balance. She fought to regain control, but her legs had already splayed and her weight quickly shifted to the back of her skis, pulling her backward. She fell to her right and then tumbled headfirst in the snow.

“Things just happen so quick in this sport,” U.S. teammate Bella Wright said after the race. “It looked like Lindsey had incredible speed out of that turn, and she hooked her arm and it’s just over just like that.”

The three-time Olympic medalist remained prone in the snow, and she could be heard wailing in pain. The gasps and groans from fans faded into shocked silence as medics worked on her. Vonn remained on the course for approximately 13 minutes before being loaded into a helicopter.

“The AP’s Jacquelyn Martin has the photo that shows the split-second before Lindsey Vonn’s crash: her right ski pole clips the gate at the crest of the jump, which flung her off balance and induced the crash,” CBS Sports writer Matt Norlander said.

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Breezy Johnson, Vonn’s teammate, became only the second American woman to win the Olympic downhill after Vonn did it 16 years ago. The 30-year-old Johnson held off Emma Aicher of Germany and Italy’s Sofia Goggia on a bittersweet day for the team.

“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 and to watch those dreams die,” said Johnson, whose own injury in Cortina in 2022 ruined her hopes of skiing in the Beijing Olympics. “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.”

Johnson added that Vonn’s coach told her: “Lindsey was cheering for me from the helicopter.”

Vonn’s crash was “tragic, but it’s ski racing,” said Johan Eliasch, president of the International Ski and Snowboard Federation.

“I can only say thank you for what she has done for our sport,” he said, “because this race has been the talk of the Games and it’s put our sport in the best possible light.”



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