They don’t call her the “Iron Woman” for nothing.
Olympic skier Lindsey Vonn, 41, announced Tuesday that she’ll still be competing in the Winter Olympics — despite sustaining an ACL injury last week.
The decorated alpine racer will attempt her fifth Winter Games after crashing at a World Cup downhill event in Switzerland and fully rupturing the ACL in her left knee, bruising her bone and suffering meniscal damage.
“I’m leaning on everyone on my team, my physical therapist, my doctors, my coaches, my trainer, everyone is working as hard as they can to get me to a place where I feel confident, and I’m prepared to just give my best,” Vonn told reporters in Cortina, Italy.
The ACL, which connects the thighbone to the shinbone, is a common injury spot for basketball and football players — but it’s not limited to those athletes.
“The most common ACL-injured patient that comes into my office is anywhere from a novice skier to an advanced skier,” Dr. Laith Jazrawi, a sports orthopedic surgeon at NYU Langone Health, told The Post. “You’re riding down the slopes and in sometimes icy conditions. Your knee could give a twist, and that’s how you tear your ACL.”
It’s often clear when someone has torn their ACL, as a pop in the knee can be heard or felt, causing immediate instability in the joint — Vonn’s biggest concerns heading into her events.
While neither Vonn nor her team detailed the severity of her injury, Jazrawi speculated that she’s dealing with a “potentially lower grade ACL injury without all the other ligaments that can be torn.”
Unfortunately, an injured knee can limit range of motion, reduce the ability to bear weight, result in cartilage damage and cause long-term problems if left untreated.
“Skiing after an ACL rupture has the potential to increase both short- and long-term damage to her knee,” Dr. James Giordano, an orthopedic surgeon based in New Jersey, told The Post. “An ACL-deficient knee risks secondary knee stabilizers, such as the meniscus, which can lead to injury.”
Skiing downhill at 80 miles an hour certainly presents issues for joints, even in uninjured athletes.
Giordano noted that Vonn faces some big challenges before her first event, the women’s downhill, on Feb. 8.
“She will need to quickly work on rehabilitation to regain her strength and explosiveness,” he said. “Furthermore, her knee will have some level of instability, which will make skiing at very high speeds even more difficult.”
Jazrawi echoed these concerns, noting the constant twisting motions that define the sport.
“In her practice run, she’s going to get a sense if she can bear weight and bear the forces that come with going down the hill,” Jazrawi explained.
Vonn is no stranger to competing with injuries, telling reporters, “I’ve done this before, I wish I wasn’t in this position, but this is where I am and I will do the best I can.”
Whether or not she ultimately competes and how she’ll fare will depend on how she feels in her training runs, the first of which is Thursday.
On these practice runs, her doctors and trainers will most likely keep a close eye on her knee and any rotational instability.
“They’re going to ask her, ‘How do you feel coming down?’ ” Jazrawi speculated. “‘Do you feel like your knee’s slipping out? Are you able to dig that ski into the snow to provide the turning ability that you need to do?’”
For his part, Jazrawi thinks the “Iron Woman” of alpine skiing may have a chance at pulling off an Olympic-worthy performance, citing past performances by athletes who played with torn ACLs, like Vonn’s ex, Tiger Woods.
“In the past, there was a group of patients who would be able to compete with a brace on and do so at a high level,” he said. “She may be one of them. Her quads are strong. She’s an elite athlete. There’s a chance.”
“It’s her last shot. She said this is her last Olympics. So for me, from a psychological standpoint, everything is in her favor.”
Dr. Laith Jazrawi
Dr. Andrea Panzeri, the chief physician for the Italian Winter Sports Federation, also mentioned numerous athletes who have competed at an elite level with a torn ACL, such as skier Sofia Goggia, who won the silver medal in 2022, mere weeks after suffering a partial tear.
“[Vonn] has experience, the physical ability and the experience on this course,” Panzeri told PBS. “If she decides to try and race, it’s because her clinical condition and her doctors are allowing her to. She doesn’t have anything to lose. I think it’s worth a try.”
Vonn returned to the slopes Tuesday wearing a knee brace, which Jazrawi feels could help her.
“She didn’t have any major swelling in her knee, which was a good sign,” he added. “And when you have a lot of swelling, your quads shut down and that can be a major challenge, especially with the type of skiing and how aggressive she is.”
Vonn — who last secured a bronze medal at the 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang before retiring for five years — underwent a successful partial knee replacement on her right knee in April 2024.
After stating that her “body is broken beyond repair” when she retired, she shared on Instagram about her Mako Robot-assisted lateral unicompartmental replacement to put titanium pieces in for better support and pain-free mobility.
While people were skeptical of whether the gold medalist would be able to compete at the same elite level, she went on to finish second in the super-G at last year’s World Cup Finals.
This time around, Jazrawi and Giordano cited the mental hurdle Vonn will have to conquer to show up on the slopes.
“She will have to maintain her mental confidence, which can be affected after an ACL tear,” Giordano said.
Jazrawi had a more optimistic outlook on the situation, stating that this feat is a win-win.
“It’s her last shot,” he said. “She said this is her last Olympics. So for me, from a psychological standpoint, everything is in her favor. She doesn’t do it or can’t do it. She’s a warrior for trying.”
Of her knee, Vonn said, “it feels stable, it feels strong” and that she “will do everything in my power to be in the starting gate.”
