Lindsey Vonn passed a key test of her damaged knee on Friday as she completed her first downhill training run for the 2026 Winter Olympics, keeping alive her hopes of medal glory at the Milan-Cortina Games.
Skiing with a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee, the American clocked a time of 1min 40.33sec in her first official run in Cortina d’Ampezzo, which was delayed for more than an hour due to fog hanging over the Olimpia delle Tofane piste.
Asked by reporters if everything was “all good”, Vonn responded simply “yeah”.
The 41-year-old’s coach, Aksel Lund Svindal, later told reporters that he thought “amazing” Vonn could yet claim her fourth Olympic medal in Sunday’s downhill final.
“I think she can, because there were reserves today. She looked symmetrical,” said Norwegian Svindal, a two-time Olympic gold medallist.
“And I mean you’ve seen earlier this season when she skis well she can win. And from what I saw today I think she can.”
Vonn had been scheduled to take part in Thursday’s training run, which was cancelled due to heavy snowfall. On Friday she was forced to wait as fog swept onto the middle section of the piste even as the sun shone brightly at the finish line.
She entertained her teammates by singing along to a song by American R&B star Usher, while the Swiss team, including reigning downhill Olympic champion Corinne Suter, passed the time by playing Yahtzee.
Assuming her knee holds up, Vonn will be able to approach the starting gate for Sunday’s race in the discipline in which she won her sole Olympic gold in 2010.
Skiers need to complete one training run in order to compete in the final, with one more session scheduled for Saturday morning. Svindal said he was unsure whether Vonn would take part in that run.
The biggest star at the Milan Games dropped a bombshell on Tuesday when she revealed the extent of the injury she suffered during a heavy crash in a World Cup downhill race in Crans Montana a week ago.
She has been in hot form this season, her second since making an astonishing return from retirement in November 2024 following surgery to partially replace her right knee.
Vonn has finished on the podium in every World Cup downhill race this season, including victories in St Moritz and Zauchensee, and has claimed two more top-three finishes in the super-G.
Italy’s Federica Brignone was the first to get all the way down the piste on Friday, with a time of 1:40.66, as she goes for a first Olympic gold after coming back from a double leg break just in time to compete.
The giant slalom world champion returned to competition less than three weeks before the start of the women’s alpine skiing events.
“Some things were good, was OK, some things was so-so,” said the 35-year-old.
“For sure I’m trying to recover my leg, because after skiing it’s always swollen and a bit painful.
“I’m working on my confidence when I’m skiing, because it’s the thing that I’m still missing.”
With Vonn’s injury casting doubt over her ability to win a medal, Brignone’s compatriot Sofia Goggia could be one of the other speed specialists ready to snatch gold.
The Bergamo native, who won gold and silver in the downhill at the past two Olympics, swooshed down a familiar slope 0.22sec faster than Vonn.
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