Lindsey Vonn Races Olympics 9 Days After Tearing ACL

At 41 years old, Lindsey Vonn is doing something sports medicine experts call atypical: racing downhill at the Olympics with a torn ACL in her left knee.

Just nine days after her crash in Switzerland, Vonn clocked the third-fastest training time for Team USA in Cortina, Italy, making the impossible look effortless. The only visible sign of her injury was a light knee brace warping the fabric of her racing suit.

"It's atypical to be able to compete without an ACL, at anything, but especially at a high level like Lindsey Vonn's going to compete at," said Dr. Clint Soppe, an orthopedic surgeon at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. The ACL connects the shin bone to the femur and keeps the knee stable during pivoting and directional changes.

Doctors call athletes like Vonn "copers," a rare 5% who overcome ACL injuries by strengthening surrounding muscles. The hamstrings, quadriceps, glutes, calves, hips, and core work overtime to compensate for the missing ligament's stabilizing role.

This isn't Vonn's first rodeo with a torn ACL. She skied on a torn right ACL for more than a month before the 2014 Sochi Olympics, and in 2019 she won bronze at the world championships without a lateral collateral ligament and with three tibial fractures in her left knee.

"She's dealt with knee injuries in this knee before, so she's been able to develop mechanisms and strategies," said Dr. Kevin Farmer, an orthopedic surgeon at the University of Florida. Her body has learned firing patterns over decades that give her knee inherent stability most people don't have.

Why This Inspires

Vonn's story reminds us that limitations aren't always permanent. Her career-long commitment to strength and conditioning created a foundation that's carrying her through what would sideline nearly anyone else.

Teammate Breezy Johnson, who attempted the same feat in 2022 before withdrawing, acknowledged that more athletes ski with knee damage than publicly discuss it. Vonn's openness about her injury challenges assumptions about what's possible in elite sports.

Coach Aksel Lund Svindal credits Vonn's mental strength as her secret weapon. "I think that's why she has won as much as she has," he told reporters after watching her remain calm during training runs that made spectators gasp.

While nine days seems impossibly short for recovery, Vonn has had 41 years to build the physical and mental toolkit she's using now. Her body doesn't just remember how to ski—it remembers how to adapt, compensate, and push forward when most would stop.

Sunday's downhill race will reveal whether years of preparation can overcome nine days of healing.