By John Henderson, For CPR News
Lindsey Vonn’s childhood coach told her once about dealing with the stress of downhill racing, “It’s only 90 seconds. What’s 90 seconds in a lifetime?”
Turns out, what is likely the last race of the greatest downhiller in history lasted less than that.
Only 13 seconds into the most-anticipated ski race of the Milan Cortina Olympics, Vonn hooked a gate and suffered another horrific crash to surely knock her out of the Games.
Her teammate from Jackson Hole, Wyo., Breezie Johnson, won by only .04 seconds over Germany’s Emma Aicher. Italy’s Sofia Goggio thrilled her countrymen with the bronze.
For the second time in nine days, Vonn’s last view of a ski mountain was from a helicopter. She was airlifted to a hospital Sunday as she was on Jan. 30 in Crans Montana, Switzerland, when she blew out her left ACL and her comeback to the Olympic starting gate was arguably the biggest story in the Olympics.
But with all the focus on her injured left knee and the right knee she had partially replaced two years ago and her five-year layoff, something else derailed her comeback: her arm.
Skiing 13th, after Johnson blitzed the course, Vonn’s right arm nicked the fourth gate. She went up unbalanced, spun around, landed awkwardly on her right leg then fell on her back, leaving a huge splash of snow in her wake. She sat up but stayed on the ground for 13 minutes as the packed grandstand sat in stunned silence.
They soon applauded and yelled loudly as she became a small dot, hauled up to the helicopter and carried to a local hospital.
Vonn’s father, Alan Kildow, and her four siblings were in the stands.
“That definitely was the last thing we wanted to see … it was scary,” her sister, Karin Kildow, said. “She dared greatly and put it all out there …. She always goes 110 percent — she never goes any less. I know she put her whole heart into it .… We are just hoping for the best.
“It’s scary because when you start to see the stretchers being put out, it’s not a good sign. But like the man in the arena said, she dared greatly and put it all out there so it’s really hard to see. I just hope she’s OK.”
U.S. Ski team posted that “Lindsey sustained an injury, but is in stable condition and in good hands with a team of American and Italian physicians”
Johnson said she was told Vonn cheered wildly for her from the helicopter.
Johnson has the best perspective of all. This same mountain shattered her Olympic hopes four years ago when she crashed in a training run before the last World Cup downhill before the Beijing Olympics. She tore knee ligaments and was out of the Games.
“I don’t claim to know what she’s going through, but I know what it is to be here, to be fighting for the Olympics and have this course burn you and, for me, have those dreams die,” she said. “It was one of the most heartbreaking moments of my life and I can’t imagine the pain that she’s going through.
“It’s not the physical pain. We can deal with physical pain. But the emotional pain is something else. I wish her the best and I hope this isn’t the end. I felt like on the same day four years was happening. It just wasn't to me. And that was really hard.”
Barring a major surprise, the crash knocked Vonn from Tuesday’s Olympic inaugural team combine event and Thursday’s Super-G. The 2010 Olympic downhill gold medalist is not only the all-time leader in World Cup downhill wins with 45 but she led this season’s World Cup downhill standings. She even had the third best training run Saturday.
Now she is surely looking straight at a second retirement.
“Watching Lindsey go down from the start was pretty awful,” said teammate Jackie Wiles, who finished a heartbreaking fourth by .17 seconds. “We have such a sisterhood. We travel with each other on the road. We’re a family. To watch someone you care about so much, it really sucks. And my heart kind of broke for her in that moment.
“But that’s the risk in the sport. We all know what can happen and we all have a lot of love and respect for each other because of the inherent risk.”
The ski conditions were perfect for fast racing. The heavy snowfall that cut short Saturday’s second training run was replaced with brilliant blue skies, sunshine and a 32-degree temperature.
Only three people crashed. Andorra’s Cande Moreno was also airlifted out. But the historic Cortina course which served as the men’s downhill in the 1956 Games can always, as Johnson said in Tuesday’s press conference, “bite you in the butt.”
“Lindsey had incredible speed out of that turn,” teammate Bella Wright said. “She hooked her arm and it’s just over, just like that. After all the preparation and after years of hard work and rehabilitation and all the things, it’s the last thing you want to see someone 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. And regardless, if she got last today or won, she obviously crashed, whatever happened today, she’s an inspiration to all of us. It probably doesn’t feel like that right now but hopefully one day she’ll recognize that.”
Johnson, 30, made one U.S. comeback story come true. But many could see this coming. After her crash in 2022, she recovered enough to win last year’s World Championship in the downhill and combined with Colorado’s Mikaela Shiffrin to win gold in the team combined.
Johnson was awarded the 2025 Stifel Alpine Best Comeback (Women) award.
Though she has never won a World Cup downhill, she had the fastest training run Saturday. She picked up where she left off, storming out of the gate and having few problems in the tricky middle section. She picked up even more speed in the bottom third of the course.
After crossing, she raised her arms in triumph, not knowing it would be enough for gold. At least not 100 percent.
“I thought it might be enough when I came down,” Johnson said. “I was pretty sure it’d be enough for a medal. When Emma was coming down I was a little stressed. Other than that, it was really nice.
“I knew it was fast. In some of the places I made mistakes I was like, Did I just make a mistake or did I make a mistake because I was going fast? That was the line I was trying to walk and it was enough.”
The only downer on her day was her medal broke. In the press conference, she pulled it out of one pocket and the ribbon out of her backpack.
“I was jumping up and down in excitement and it fell off,” she said. “It’s heavier than I expected. Maybe that’s why it broke. I don’t know if Italians are known for their engineering.”
Her celebration Sunday night would be limited. She’ll see family and friends but she plans on skiing the team combined — probably with Shiffrin again — and the Super-G.
Meanwhile, the mountain emptied with everyone awaiting word on Vonn’s condition, especially her family. All of her doctors and surgeons are here.
“I don’t know exactly what happened,” Kildow said. “It looked like a pretty rough fall so we’re just hoping for the best.”
John Henderson is a former sportswriter for The Denver Post and lives in Rome.
