Olympic dreams outweigh knee injury for Lindsey Vonn. Is she crazy to ski on a torn ACL?
Despite tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee just a week ago, American ski racer Lindsey Vonn plans to compete in the Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics on Sunday.
The crash looked painful, and the timing could not have been worse.
But despite tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee just a week ago, American ski racer Lindsey Vonn plans to compete in the Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics on Sunday.
Northeastern University physical therapist Joshua Stefanik said there are “pros and cons” to weigh in making such a decision, but ultimately, an Olympic dream is hard to abandon.
“This is her last chance in the Olympics,” said Stefanik, associate professor
of physical therapy, human movement, and rehabilitation sciences at Northeastern. “So if she feels she can overcome those things, she’s going to give it a shot.”
Vonn is competing in her fifth Olympics and, at age 41, is the oldest skier competing at the games.
She specializes in downhill, the fastest, longest and most prestigious ski-racing event noted for its steep slopes, widely spaced gates around which the racer must turn and jump. The sport requires incredible lower-body and core strength as racers must maintain control on slick courses while approaching speeds of up to 95 miles per hour.
Winning an Olympic medal this year would cap not just a remarkable career but a remarkable comeback for Vonn. She retired in 2019 after multiple injuries and surgery on her right knee, saying her body was “broken beyond repair.” She returned to competition in 2024 following a partial knee replacement.
Then came the Jan. 30 crash in Switzerland. She was taken by helicopter from the racecourse.
It was her ACL, which Stefanik called the main “stabilizer” of the knee crucial for “high-level activities” such as cutting, pivoting, jumping, change of direction, and making minute adjustments on the racecourse.
“Those small tweaks as you’re skiing, that change in direction – that’s where the ACL really does its job,” Stefanik said.
But in a press conference on Tuesday, Vonn said a “completely ruptured” ACL, bone bruising and “meniscal damage” would not derail her Olympic plans.
“I know what my chances were before the crash, and I know my chances aren’t the same as it stands today, but I know there’s still a chance,” Vonn told reporters. “And as long as there’s a chance, I will try.”
The ACL is the most commonly injured knee ligament, according to the Cleveland Clinic, and experts estimate that between 100,000 and 200,000 people in the U.S. tear an ACL each year.
Editor’s Picks
Stefanik said Vonn – like other elite athletes, including Patriots receiver Stefon Diggs – is “pushing the limits.”
Typically, medical professionals recommend a year to recover from knee surgery to repair a torn ACL, Stefanik said. Sports Illustrated called Diggs’ return after 9 months “miraculous.”
But Stefanik said Vonn cited several main reasons why she felt she could compete without surgery and without an ACL.
First, Vonn planned to wear a knee brace and cited the strength of her quadriceps muscle – both of which will provide some external stability to the knee that the ACL can’t provide anymore.
Vonn also has told reporters she doesn’t have major swelling or bruising and little pain.
“If she doesn’t have swelling, she claims her knee feels stable and she’s getting good activation of her quads, maybe that’s enough,” Stefanik said.
Plus, the downhill event in which she’s competing typically takes elite competitors only 1.5 to 2 minutes.
“Can her quads and that brace keep her stable for one and a half to two minutes?” Stefanik asked. “I don’t know, but potentially.”
On the other hand, during that 1.5 to 2 minutes, Vonn will be traveling at an average of 80 miles per hour.
“If that knee buckles on her and she falls again, she could get hurt again and it could be a lot worse,” Stefanik said.
Furthermore, Vonn will be missing a crucial neurological feedback loop.
“There’s this unconscious feedback loop that’s going to be broken because the ACL is torn,” Stefanik said. “That’s another potential risk factor for another injury or instability during the race.”
Finally, there’s the psychological factor, Stefanik said.
“Is she going to have a mental block? Is she going to be thinking about it?” Stefanik asked. Or will chasing Olympic glory usurp those concerns?
“Maybe she’s going to go slower and she’ll be fine,” Stefanik said.”If she goes all out, who knows?”
That being said, Stefanik noted that Vonn has a “world-class sports medicine team” advising her and will be taking practice runs that could ultimately determine whether she competes or not.
“She might practice over the next week and then call it off,” Stefanik said. “We don’t know.”
