U.S. skiing legend Lindsey Vonn crashed early in her women’s downhill run at the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics and was airlifted by helicopter to a hospital for evaluation.
The 41-year-old Vonn clipped a gate roughly 13–17 seconds into the course at the Tofane Alpine Skiing Centre, lost control, and tumbled hard. She was heard screaming in pain as she lay on the snow. Medical teams treated her on the slope for about 20 minutes before she was placed on a stretcher and flown off the mountain by helicopter.
The race was paused during the rescue.This is Vonn’s second major incident in nine days. On January 30, she suffered a complete rupture of her left ACL (plus meniscus damage) during a World Cup downhill in Crans-Montana, Switzerland, and was also airlifted then. Despite the fresh injury, she competed at the Olympics wearing a large knee brace. She had previously undergone partial knee replacement surgery on her right knee.
