ACL tears are among the most devastating injuries in sports, routinely sidelining 20-something-year-old professional athletes for a year or more.
Countless instances of the world’s best athletes enduring lengthy rehabilitation and recoveries have made it hard to believe that 41-year-old Lindsey Vonn will participate in the Olympics one week after suffering the injury.
But Vonn made a convincing statement to the world that she could compete for a medal in Sunday’s downhill race after finishing 11th out of 45 competitors during Friday’s training run, her first since rupturing her ACL in her left knee.
Lindsey Vonn of Team United States skis during the Women’s Downhill training on day zero of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics at Tofane Alpine Skiing Centre on February 06, 2026 in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy. Getty Images
Afterwards, Vonn made the feat seem even more remarkable, responding on X to a sports medicine doctor who was skeptical about the severity of her injury:
“lol thanks doc,” she wrote. “My ACL was fully functioning until last Friday. Just because it seems impossible to you doesn’t mean it’s not possible. And yes, my ACL is 100% ruptured. Not 80% or 50%. It’s 100% gone.
Dr. Brian Sutterer, of Missouri, had questioned whether Vonn had injured the ACL for the first time last week.
“There’s a VERY important aspect of this that we do not know – What was the state of her ACL before the crash last week?” he wrote. “What she is doing now would not be nearly as surprising in an elite athlete whose knee was already functioning like the ACL was torn at baseline. When you hear stories about ‘so and so played for years on a torn ACL,’ that’s chronic, meaning the body has time to adapt and retrain muscles to support the knee.
Lindsey Vonn of the United States looks on during downhill training session during the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games at Tofane Alpine Skiing Centre. Eric Bolte-Imagn Images
2026 WINTER OLYMPICS
“Also, someone who had a prior tear/surgery may not be as swollen and painful with a repeat injury. Bottom line, I don’t think this was a bread and butter, fresh ACL tear like everyone is thinking.”
Vonn, who was skiing with a brace on her knee, has undergone extensive therapy since suffering the injury, but “considering how my knee feels, I feel stable, I feel strong.”
“No one would have believed I would be here,” Vonn posted to Instagram, “but I made it!! I’m here, I’m smiling and no matter what, I know how lucky I am. I’m not going to waste this chance.”
