CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy —The No. 1 rule in sports journalism is no cheering or jeering in the press box.
More than a Dozen of reporters with more than a century of experience covering America’s most revered and reviled athletes and coaches crammed into the mixed zone at the Tofane Alpine Skiing Center Sunday for Lindsey Vonn’s final downhill race at a Winter Olympics. She left the starting gate at high noon. And about 13 seconds later, her right arm hooked the fourth gate, spun her off balance, and sent her head first into the snow.
Every journalist in the mixed zone gasped in horror. They couldn’t help but react.
And neither could anyone else on the mountain. Fans, coaches, Olympic volunteers, Vonn’s competitors. Everyone panicked. Audibly. They grimaced and groaned, covering their eyes and mouths as they saw Vonn’s terrifying tumble on the jumbotron.
While Vonn’s harrowing cries haunted those watching on TV at home, the finish area in Cortina fell silent. Deafeningly so.
Sympathetic applause followed several taut minutes later, as everyone on the mountain waited for the medical helicopter to come. For the second time in nine days, Vonn had to be airlifted to a hospital.
‘It looked like Lindsey had incredible speed out of that turn, and then she hooked her arm, and it’s just over. Just like that,” American teammate Bella Wright said. “After all the preparation, after years of hard work and rehabilitation and all the things, it’s the last thing you want to see somebody go through. It’s the last thing you want to see for Lindsey. But she should be really proud of everything that she has gone through to get back here.”
Vonn made a miraculous comeback within a miraculous comeback to ski in these Winter Games. After coming out of retirement to become world No. 1 in the downhill at age 41, she tore her ACL in a crash at the World Cup run in Crans Montana on Jan. 30. On Tuesday, she announced her intention to compete.
Olympic legend Shaun White said before the Games he couldn’t remember an Olympic story of such magnitude since Kerri Strug’s iconic vault in 1996. Strug’s broken-ankle performance made her a media darling in 1996. But that response has since been relitigated and ruled irresponsible.
Similarly, Vonn was hurrahed and hissed for her decision to ski injured. Naysayers couldn’t believe she’d set such a poor example for young athletes by sacrificing her body in such a way.
But Vonn isn’t an 18-year-old gymnast. And there were no infamous Romanian coaches who pressured her into racing. She is an adult. Who loves skiing. She already sat out one Olympics due to injury (2014). But she wanted 2026 to be where she ended her career on her terms, not because her body forced her to be done.
Vonn retired, reluctantly, in 2019. “My body is broken beyond repair,” she said at the time. But after six years in the valley and a partial right knee replacement, Vonn returned to World Cup racing in 2024. The surgery allowed her to get back into competition shape and return to the summit – yes, of the mountain, but also of her sport.
Vonn has podiumed at every downhill race this season and won two of them. She finished in the top three twice in a trio of super-G events she raced as well. Vonn’s stellar results allowed her to meet the U.S. Skiing Olympic qualifying criteria in December.
She is widely regarded as the greatest speed skier of all time. And she was determined to punctuate her resume with an individual Olympic medal.
Instead, she left Tofona strapped to the side of a canary yellow chopper with three nasty letters by her name: DNF. (Did not finish).
American Breezy Johnson raced sixth, seven spots ahead of Vonn. The eventual gold-medal winner saw her teammate crash from the hot seat, wide-eyed with her hand over her mouth in shock.
“I can’t imagine the pain that she’s going through,” Johnson said. “And it’s not the physical pain. We can deal with physical pain. But the emotional pain is something else. And I wish her the best, and I hope that this isn’t the end.”
As Vonn flew overhead, the finish line announcer rallied the crowd: “Putting it all on the line, Lindsey Vonn, the queen of Cortina, you will be missed … Everybody up on your feet, so she can hear you.’
Triumphant cheers followed, much louder than the tepid applause from about 15 minutes earlier when Vonn first left her skis.
Italian Sophia Goggia, who went 15th en route to a bronze medal, wished Vonn a quick recovery. She and Vonn are also good friends. When Goggia won silver in Beijing 23 days after fracturing her fibula and partially tearing her ACL on a downhill run in Cortina, Vonn was the first person she video called after the ceremony.
It is not yet known the severity of Vonn’s injury. Her wails could have stemmed from physical pain, anguish over the accident or a chilling combination of both. U.S. Skiing said she is stable and being treated by Italian and American doctors.
Johnson said she received word that Vonn was cheering her on from the helicopter. American Jackie Wiles, who finished fourth from the 17th start position, said she knew Vonn would’ve wanted her and Wright (who went 24th) to stay in the race. But Wiles said it was hard to go down the mountain after watching her friend and teammate go out like that.
“We have such a sisterhood. I mean, we travel with each other on the road. We’re a family,’ Wiles said. ‘And to watch someone that you care about so much, it really sucks. And my heart kind of just broke for her in that moment.”
Reach USA TODAY Network sports reporter Payton Titus at ptitus@gannett.com, and follow her on X @petitus25.