The most-watched knee at the 2026 Olympics survived its first big test Friday.
Lindsey Vonn got through her first training run without incident after completely rupturing her left ACL during a World Cup race last week in Switzerland.
The Peacock announcer noted a “hard landing” near the finish line but it otherwise looked to be a smooth run.
United States’ Lindsey Vonn speeds down the course during an alpine ski, women’s downhill official training, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Bormio, Italy, Friday, Feb. 6, 2026. AP
“That’s a big box ticked for Lindsey Vonn,” the announcer said.
Vonn finished the run in 1:40:33, which was good enough for 11th out of 45 competitors. She finished 1.39 seconds behind American teammate Jacqueline Wiles, who had the top time.
“Yep,” Vonn said to an AP reporter when asked if the run went well. The 41-year-old then left the mountain to continue her rehab.
Vonn got tight with her line midway down and only narrowly cleared a gate but she led at the final checkpoints, then stood up out of her tuck before the finish.
Lindsey Vonn (right) and Breezy Johnson at the finish area during an alpine ski, women’s downhill official training, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, Friday, Feb. 6, 2026. AP“She was smart. She didn’t go all in,” Aksel Lund Svindal, a former Olympic downhill champion from Norway and now one of Vonn’s personal coaches, told the AP. “She made a mistake on the bottom, but the rest looked like just good skiing, but no big risk. And to me it looked symmetrical.”
There is another training run on Saturday, though it is unclear if Vonn will participate. Competitors must complete one training run in order to be cleared to race in the event, which is early Sunday morning.
Vonn was skiing with a brace on her knee, exactly one week after a devastating fall in tricky conditions put her Olympic comeback hopes at risk.
“Nothing makes me happier!” a smiling Vonn posted on Instagram before the race on the Olympia delle Tofane course.
“No one would have believed I would be here… but I made it!! I’m here, I’m smiling and no matter what, I know how lucky I am. I’m not going to waste this chance.”
Lindsey Vonn after finishing her downhill training run. Leonhard Foeger/Reuters via Imagn Images
Lindsey Vonn concentrates ahead of an alpine ski, women’s downhill official training, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, Friday, Feb. 6, 2026. APThe run was delayed by nearly an hour with Vonn and her teammates passing the time by posting dancing pics and videos on social media.
After watching her training run, Svindal thinks Vonn can contend for a medal on Sunday.
“I think she can because there was reserves today,” Svindal said. “You’ve seen earlier this season when she skis well she can win and from what I saw today I think she can. It’s going to be hard but I think she could possibly bring that on Sunday.”
Vonn retired in 2019 due to a long list of injuries before shockingly returning to the sport in Dec. 2024 with her focus fully on this Olympics.
Lindsey Vonn of Team United States skis during the Women’s Downhill training on day zero of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics at Tofane Alpine Skiing Centre on February 06, 2026 in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy. Getty Images“She was the first one to say that, ‘This is happening, we’re racing,’” Svindal said of Vonn’s mindset after the crash.
And with this hurdle completed, it appears she will do just that.
— With AP
