Lindsey Vonn, 41, still plans to compete in the 2026 Winter Olympics days after tearing her ACL.
MILAN, Metropolitan City of Milan — Lindsey Vonn posted a video of her doing intense leg workouts not even a week after she tore her ACL while preparing for the 2026 Winter Olympics.
Vonn, 41, is the record holder and winner of 12 World Cup wins in Cortina as an alpine ski racer. She completely ruptured her ACL Jan. 30 when she crashed while preparing for the Winter Games at the Alpine Ski World Cup in Switzerland.
Four days later, she said she still intended on participating in the Olympics and posted video proof of her healing quickly.
“I’m not giving up. working as hard as I can to make it happen!” Vonn wrote in the caption of an Instagram video. “Thank you to my team and everyone for your incredible support. Keep believing.”
In the video, the now five-time Olympian is wearing a knee brace and doing lunges, squats and other exercises to Andy Grammer’s “Don’t Give Up on Me.”
A Colorado sports medicine specialist said Tuesday that Vonn’s plan to compete in the Olympics, relying on a specialized knee brace would be extraordinarily difficult — and comes with a heightened risk of further injury.
“An ACL injury in and of itself doesn’t mean that you can’t use and that you can’t move your knee,” said Dr. Sean Baran, a sports medicine specialist at Western Orthopedics. “It’s a stabilizer inside the knee, and it’s certainly a very important stabilizer. It’s a rotational stabilizer, so for things that involve fast change of direction, cutting, pivoting, twisting, jumping, we classically think that the ACL is a necessary thing.”
Vonn said during a news conference Tuesday that her knee felt stable so far, noting minimal swelling and strong muscle activation. She said that she believes a brace will allow her to compete.
“Considering how my knee feels, it feels stable. I feel strong,” Vonn said. “My knee is not swollen, and with the help of a knee brace, I am confident that I can compete on Sunday.”
Vonn said her goal is to race the downhill, but she will take things day by day. She will evaluate after the downhill if she can compete in additional races.
“I’m pretty confident that she can still pull off this dream,” Chris Knight, Vonn’s head coach, told The Associated Press on Wednesday. “I’ve got no doubts in my mind that this is going to be OK.”
What happened to Lindsey Vonn’s knee?
Vonn has previously undergone a partial knee replacement surgery before she “completely ruptured” her ACL.
The ACL, the anterior cruciate ligament, is one of the bands of strong tissue that help connect your thigh bone to your shinbone, according to the Mayo Clinic.
Because the ACL keeps things connected a tear, even a partial one, can lead to loss of function, instability or other long-term health issues with the knee if not treated. Treatment depends on the severity of the tear and can be treated with rest, ice, elevation, compression and/or surgery, according to Agile Physical Therapy.
When will Lindsey Vonn ski at the 2026 Olympics?
Vonn is expected to take part in the training run Friday, Feb. 6, according to Olympics.com.
The first training run was canceled due to heavy snow on the course and pushed the women’s downhill training sessions to Friday. The race will take place Sunday, Feb. 8.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.