Lindsey Vonn needed surgery on her broken leg after she crashed out of the Winter Olympics downhill on Sunday ending the American skiing great’s improbable dream of a medal.
In happier scenes, figure skating sensation Ilia Malinin produced a pulsating routine to see off Japan and retain the team title for the United States.
Malinin will now go for gold in the men’s individual competition later in the Milan-Cortina Games.
The day though was all about Vonn, for all the wrong reasons.
The 41-year-old American, attempting to ski with a ruptured knee ligament, was just 13 seconds into her run in Cortina d’Ampezzo when she hit a gate on her first jump, lost control, twisted in the air and crumpled in the snow.
Her cries of pain could be heard on the microphones as medical staff attended to her.
Thousands of spectators at the bottom of the run fell into stunned silence as they watched on giant screens.
Vonn was eventually strapped into a stretcher and winched into the air by a rescue helicopter as the crowd applauded.
By the evening, the Ca’ Foncello hospital in Treviso where Vonn was treated said she had required “surgery to stabilise a fracture of the left leg”.
Her US teammate Breezy Johnson went on to win the downhill to earn the first Olympic gold of her career, but her thoughts were with Vonn, saying: “My heart goes out to her.”
Just two weeks ago, Vonn looked in contention to cap a remarkable comeback from retirement by winning the second Olympic title of her career. Her previous one came 16 years ago in the downhill at the 2010 Vancouver Games.
She had retired in 2019 but returned to the slopes in 2024 after surgery to insert a titanium implant in her right knee to quell persistent pain.
But her Olympic plans were thrown into disarray when she crashed in a World Cup race at Crans Montana, Switzerland, on January 30.
In a press conference once she arrived in Italy, she admitted that she had ruptured her ACL in that fall, but insisted she could still compete for medals, although she conceded: “I know what my chances were before the crash and I know my chances aren’t the same as it stands today.”
In view of what happened on Sunday, some will question whether Vonn should have been in the start gate at all, but it was her choice to take part in what could be the final Olympic event of her career.
The president of the International Olympic Committee, Kirsty Coventry, called Vonn an “incredible inspiration” after the crash, adding: “We’re all thinking of you.”
Malinin had underperformed in his Olympic debut on Saturday but a day later later a big responsibility was placed on his 21-year-old shoulders in the team competition when Amber Glenn slipped to third in the women’s section to let Japan move into the lead.
With tennis great Novak Djokovic watching in the crowd in Milan, Malinin produced too much complexity in his routine for his Japanese opponent, Shun Sato.
It meant the Americans retained the title they won four years ago in Beijing, Japan took silver and an emotional Italian team claimed another medal for the hosts.
On the second full day of the Milan-Cortina Games, Czech snowboarder Zuzana Maderova won gold in the women’s parallel giant slalom after the shock exit of defending champion Ester Ledecka.
Ledecka crashed out in the quarter-finals as the Czech chased what would have been a historic snowboarding title in three consecutive Olympics.
In Tesero, Norwegian cross-country skier Johannes Klaebo racked up the sixth Olympic gold medal of his career by taking the skiathlon title.
France won its first gold medal of these Games, taking the biathlon mixed 4x6km relay.
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump attacked as a “real loser” a US Olympic freestyle skier who said that he had mixed feelings about representing America, given the acute tension over violent immigration raids and other political crises.
At a press conference last week, Hunter Hess said it “brings up mixed emotions to represent the US right now”.
On Sunday, Trump hit back: “If that’s the case, he shouldn’t have tried out for the Team, and it’s too bad he’s on it. Very hard to root for someone like this.”
– AFP