Inside Lindsey Vonn's record-breaking career after horror crash at Winter Olympics

Viewers around the world were shocked when skier Lindsey Vonn’s return to the Winter Olympics ended in heartbreaking fashion, following a horrifying crash just 13 seconds into her women’s downhill run. She was airlifted off the mountain and underwent surgery on her fractured left leg that evening. But the brutal end to her Olympic bid on the slopes of the Olimpia delle Tofane course shouldn’t obscure the story of her incredible comeback – or her glittering career as one of the greatest alpine skiers of all time. 

Lindsey was introduced to skiing at the age of three by her family in Minnesota, USA. By nine, she was competing internationally. In 2000, aged 16, Lindsey graduated to alpine’s skiing prestigious international circuit, the FIS Alpine Ski World Cup. She would go on to win three overall titles, in 2007/08–2009/10, and rack up 84 race wins in five different disciplines. Lindsey was particularly dominant in the two fastest events, the downhill and the Super G, which required both nerve and incredible technique. She recorded the most FIS Alpine Ski World Cup women’s downhill race wins – 45 – and the most FIS Alpine Ski World Cup women’s Super G race wins – 28.

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Lindsey made her first Olympic appearance at Salt Lake City in 2002 – the first of five Games she would compete in. Her most successful was Vancouver 2010, where she claimed bronze in the Super G and gold in the downhill – despite injuring her tibia days before the competition began. Injury ruled Lindsey out of the 2014 Olympics but four years later she returned in triumphant fashion. In Pyeongchang, South Korea, Lindsey (b. 18 October 1984) won bronze in the downhill aged 33 years 126 days to become the oldest female Winter Olympic medallist in Alpine skiing.

By this point, however, injuries were starting to take their toll. Lindsey retired after the 2019 Alpine Ski World Championships – signing off in style with a podium finish in the women’s downhill. Her trophy cabinet included three Olympic medals, eight World Championship medals and a total of 20 World Cup titles. For most athletes, this would have been the end of the story. However, following knee surgery in 2024, Lindsey hit the comeback trail.

She announced her return to competitive racing weeks after her 40th birthday. And it was soon clear she wasn’t there to make up the numbers. Confounding expectations, Lindsey showed that she was as fast as ever. On 12 December 2025, she won a World Cup downhill race in St Moritz, Switzerland – her first victory in eight years. A second win came the following month. On 18 January, Lindsey extended her own record for the oldest woman to podium at an FIS Alpine Ski World Cup race, finishing second in a Super G race in Tarvisio, Italy, aged 41 years 92 days. A fairytale medal at the 2026 Winter Olympics looked a strong possibility.

However, just nine days before the Games in Milano Cortina began, disaster struck when Lindsey ruptured her anterior cruciate ligament (ACL). It seemed impossible that she could recover in time to compete, but once again she sought to defy the odds. She duly made it to the Olympic starting gate, only for her race to end in the worst possible way. It seems unlikely at this point that Lindsey will be able to make a second comeback to the sport she has lit up. But people have learned long ago never to write her off.

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