Lindsey Vonn will compete at the 2026 Winter Olympics despite ‘completely ruptured’ ACL injury

(CNN) — American skiing superstar Lindsey Vonn will compete at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan Cortina despite suffering a “completely ruptured” ACL in a crash on Friday.

Vonn had said in a recent Instagram post that her “Olympic dream is not over” and the 41-year-old’s confirmation at Tuesday’s press conference in the Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium will have Team USA fans breathing a sigh of relief ahead of the Games.

Vonn lost control after landing a jump at a World Cup race in Crans-Montana and was seen crashing into the safety nets. After being treated by medics, the 2010 Olympic gold medalist was able to ski slowly down to the finish line but was clearly feeling discomfort. She was eventually airlifted to a hospital for further evaluation, as is standard practice for competitors injured during their runs.

She was the third skier to crash during the morning’s action. The rest of the day’s runs were eventually canceled due to low visibility.

Vonn is scheduled to race in the women’s downhill event on Sunday at this year’s Games, before also competing in the super-G and combined team competition. Her training runs are set to begin on Thursday, ahead of the Olympic opening ceremony.

In an Instagram post on Tuesday, Vonn wrote: “I will still need to do one training run, as is required to race on Sunday, but… I am confident in my body’s ability to perform. Despite my injuries my knee is stable, I do not have swelling and my muscles are firing and reacting as they should.

“I will obviously be continuing to evaluate with my medical team on a daily basis to make sure we are making smart decisions but I have every intention of competing on Sunday.”

When asked at the press conference if she was going to compete in all three disciplines, Vonn said, “I don’t know,” before adding that her current goal is the downhill, but that if her knee is stable, she will continue to race with the intention to compete in all three disciplines.

“I don’t want to have any regrets,” she said.

“The Olympics are the only thing that I’m thinking about. Every day, my knee has gotten better.”

The American star added to the assembled media that she was looking for the conditions that would help her ski fastest – Cortina’s normal, compact snow – not those which would “help (her) knee.”

The greatest of comebacks?

Vonn made a remarkable comeback last season after nearly six years away from the sport, despite undergoing partial knee replacement surgery, and is currently leading the World Cup downhill season standings.

A downhill medal at Milan Cortina would break Vonn’s own record she set in 2018 as the oldest woman to make the podium in the discipline at a Winter Games and mark a triumphant bookend to her Olympic career.

The three-time Olympic medalist said the 2019 world championships were the closest thing she’s experienced to what she’s going through now, before adding that the situation in 2019 was perhaps worse.

She said, “I feel a lot better right now than I did in 2019 for the last world championships, and I still got a medal there.” Vonn eventually won bronze in the downhill at the 2019 world championships in Åre, Sweden, before retiring for the first time.

Asked where she would rank the moment in her career if she were to start and medal in the downhill on Sunday, Vonn said: “Well, I will make it to the starting gate. … This would be the best comeback I’ve done so far. Definitely the most dramatic, that’s for sure.

“A pretty damn good comeback if I can pull it off.”

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CNN’s Ben Church contributed to this report.