Winter Olympics chiefs defend Lindsey Vonn’s decision to ski on ruptured ACL

Senior officials at the Winter Olympics have defended Lindsey Vonn’s decision to compete in Sunday’s downhill just nine days after rupturing her anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) - with the skiing great’s horror crash described as “a one in 1000” accident.

Vonn’s shoulder clipped a gate just seconds into her run at the Tofane Alpine Skiing Centre, with the 41-year-old crashing hard and left screaming in agony on the slope before being airlifted to hospital. The American has since undergone surgery on a leg fracture.

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Vonn damaged her ACL in a fall shortly before the Winter Olympics, which put her involvement in severe doubt, but she ruled herself fit to compete. Vonn had completed two practice runs prior to Sunday’s downhill, where she was attempting to complete a remarkable comeback having retired from the sport in 2019.

Vonn’s decision to compete in the downhill despite the injury to her knee, and whether she should have been allowed to do so, has since been the subject of some debate. The International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS) does not check on the injury statuses of athletes, while Vonn’s team-mates and competitors have also backed her decision to race.

“I think it's clear in the downhill we give athletes opportunities to train to make sure they are able to go down the slope in the way it should be for all the athletes,” the International Olympic Committee’s sports director Pierre Ducrey said.

"That happened, she was able to train and made the choice, with the excellent team that she has, to take part, so from that point of view I don't think we should say that she should or shouldn't have participated. This decision was really hers and her team's to take. She made the decision and unfortunately it led to the injury."

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The FIS president, Johan Eliasch, supported the idea that the decision was Vonn’s to make, a view echoed by several fellow skiiers competing at Milano-Cortina.

“Many people have asked me if FIS should get involved in deciding and I firmly believe this has to be decided by the individual athlete,” Eliasch said.

“In her case, she certainly knows her injuries better than anybody else. If you look around (at) the athletes yesterday, every single athlete has a small injury of some kind.

“What is also important for people to understand is that the accident that she had yesterday, she was incredibly unlucky. It was a one in 1000.”

American downhiller Kyle Negomir said Vonn should have been allowed to take the risk. “Lindsey's a grown woman, and the best speed skier to ever do this sport.

“She's obviously good enough that she's capable of pulling it off. Just because it happened to not pan out yesterday doesn't mean that it definitely wasn't a possibility that she could just crush it and have a perfect run.”