15 seconds. This is how long it has taken for tragedy to cross into Lindsey Vonn’s dreams again. The queen of the … speed, the heroine who at 41 years old had come out of retirement to win again in the discipline that she dominated with an iron fist for so many years, has fallen as soon as the downhill event of the Winter Olympic Games being held in Milan-Cortina d`Ampezzo began.
After negotiating the first meters of the descent without problems, he got caught on a door and lost his balance on the jump that followed. The North American has hit her body against the icy snow. His cries of pain were shocking: “I can’t, I can’t!” Unable to move, the assistants entered the court and put her on a stretcher and then she was taken by helicopter to the hospital.
The medical report arrived hours later, with the North American’s followers concerned about her state of health. He has broken his left leg, and the doctors have decided to operate on it immediately. No more is known, but many believe this will be the end of the career for the Minnesota star.
Vonn had decided to participate in the test despite the fact that ten days ago she destroyed the ligaments in her left knee. «Well, the time has come to say it: last Friday I completely tore the anterior cruciate ligament in my left knee. I also suffered a bone contusion, something very common in this type of injury, and a tear in the meniscus of the same knee,” he declared.
Unapproachable by discouragement, he decided to continue with his Olympic dream, the fifth in his long and legendary career in which he has won a gold, three plants and as many bronzes, to which must be added 17 medals in the World Cups. “My Olympic dream is not over,” she added convinced. To everyone’s amazement, she could be seen working out in the gym. And yesterday, in training, she had placed third. The hope that I could fight for a medal was the great story of these Games. Added to this was the fact that he knew this track perfectly, where he had won up to twelve times, more than any other athlete in history, man or woman. But that damn door has prevented it.
No knees
The skier, who learned to slide on snow when she was only three years old, decided to retire in 2019, plagued by injuries. His right knee is more robotic than human, with more titanium than bone. Until that moment he had accumulated 84 victories, just two away from Ingemar Stenmark’s legendary record. For a long time, Vonn had seemed the chosen one to surpass the legendary Swede’s mark. But that shattered right knee prevented it. The one who broke that limit was his compatriot Mikaela Shiffrin, a winning machine like the history of alpine skiing has never known. «His tenacity and the determination he shows with these Olympic Games, and the fact that he remains true to his values, is absolutely magnificent. “She has already achieved incredible things despite injuries, even above them,” Shiffrin had assured a few days ago.
Awarded the Laureus Award for the best female athlete of the year in 2011 and the Prince of Asturias Award in 2019, the surprise came last year, when she decided to return to competition. So far this season, he had won two victories in his great specialty, the downhill -St. Moritz and Altenmarkt-Zauchensee – and seven podiums in eight races. In the remaining test she placed fourth. She thus went to the Games as one of the clear favorites for gold and with the record of the oldest skier to win a victory in the Ski Champions: 41 years and 52 days.
The gold went to the American Breezy Johnson, the second to achieve it after Vonn herself in 2010.
