Lindsey Vonn’s Olympic career ended in brutal fashion on Sunday, with a crash during the women’s downhill competition in Cortina. The news got worse shortly after.
The AP is reporting Vonn underwent surgery to “stabilize a fracture reported in her left leg.” The U.S. Ski Team said the 41-year-old is in stable condition under the supervision of a team of American and Italian doctors.
Anouk Patty, chief of sport for U.S. Ski and Snowboard, said, “She’ll be OK, but it’s going to be a bit of a process.”
Vonn lost control soon after leaving the start house and clipped a gate with her right shoulder, sending her tumbling down the slopes. She could be heard in agony while she was attended to for minutes on the ice. She was eventually airlifted to a nearby hospital.
Less than two weeks ago, Vonn suffered a torn right ACL after a crash while training for the Olympics. She opted to compete anyway.
American Breezy Johnson wound up winning the gold medal in the event, with an incredible performance that saw her top the field by .04 seconds.
Lindsey Vonn career achievements
If the crash represented the final time Vonn will compete in an alpine event, she’ll retire as one of the greatest skiers in history. She made her World Cup debut on November 18, 2000 as a 16-year-old, and over nearly three decades put together one of the best resumes the sport has ever seen.
Vonn spent 21 seasons on the World Cup circuit, which included a five-year retirement from 2020 through the 2024 campaign. In her years on tour, she won 84 World Cup events, including 45 downhill titles. She made 145 World Cup podiums as well.
The American star was on nine teams at the World Championships and took home eight world championship medals, including two golds. Both came in 2009 when she won the downhill and Super-G world titles. During her years on the World Cup tour, she won four overall titles, including three in a row from 2008 to ‘10, and again in ‘12. To go along with those, she won season discipline titles 16 times, with eight downhill championships, five in the Super-G, and three in the combined.
Vonn made her fifth Olympic team this year and has three medals in her career. She won the downhill gold in 2010 at Vancouver, and added a bronze in the Super-G that year. In 2018, she took the bronze in the downhill as well.
It was a career of stunning accomplishments for Vonn. If this was her last event, she’ll be remembered for all she accomplished, not for how it ended.
More Winter Olympics on Sports Illustrated
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- NBC Is Live Tracking the Heart Rate of Olympians' Loved Ones, and It's Bizarre
- Sad Photo Shows Lindsey Vonn’s Unlucky Move That Led to Devastating Olympics Crash
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Lindsey Vonn Underwent Surgery for Broken Leg After Brutal Olympics Crash.
