Lindsey Vonn’s fifth and final Olympics ended in the one way she dreaded most of all. Moments into her run in the women’s downhill, Vonn’s legs failed her as she came over a roll after passing the third gate.
She twisted and crashed sideways to the ground, and after a first stunned burst of shouts and screams, the atmosphere around the Olimpia delle Tofane course fell deadly quiet while the medical team gathered around her. Fifteen minutes later, Vonn was airlifted from the mountain to hospital for treatment.
Vonn’s friend and teammate Breezy Johnson, who won the gold, was watching from the leader’s seat at the time, and covered her eyes because she couldn’t bring herself to watch. “It’s tragic, but it’s ski racing I’m afraid,’ said Johan Eliasch, chairman of the international skiing federation. “I can only say thank you for what she [Vonn] has done for our sport, because this race has been the talk of the Games.”
As the helicopter carrying Vonn flew overhead, the crowd around the mountain broke into applause for her, but the disruption to the race was difficult for the competitors lining up behind her – including the home favourite, Sofia Goggia.
The interruption lasted half an hour, and after it was over, no one else was able to get within half-a-second of Johnson’s winning time of 1min 36.10sec. Goggia won the bronze, and Germany’s Emma Aichner won the silver. The mood on the mountain changed in the moments after Vonn crashed, and two more bad accidents followed, involving Austria’s Nina Ortleib and Andorra’s Cande Moreno.
At the age of 41, Vonn had become the first forty-something to ever start an Olympic downhill race, and was competing here even after she had ruptured the ACL in her left knee while racing in Switzerland last week. “There’s still a chance,” she said earlier this week, “and as long as there is a chance I will try”.
Vonn had successfully completed two downhill training runs on Friday and Saturday, but the accident leaves questions about the wisdom of her decision to enter these Olympics. “People who say that don’t know Lindsey,” said Eliasch. “That’s all I can say.”
“In the end she risked too much,” said double Olympic champion Tina Maze, commentating on TNT. “That’s the kind of crash that can happen, of course if you are not healthy the consequences are even worse, but Lindsey wanted to do this, no matter what. It’s really tough for everyone here to see this.”
