Lindsey Vonn crashed out of a world Cup Super-G race on Sunday while on pace for her best finish so far in her comeback to alpine skiing.
The American star was tracking toward a podium spot in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy — on the hill that will host the 2026 Olympics — when she went down onto her left side coming around a turn just over 50 seconds into her run and spun in the snow. She slammed her pole in frustration, got up on her own power, and skied down the hill, waving to the crowd at the bottom.
Vonn had the 10th fastest split in the first sector of the race and fourth quickest in the second. She was just a half-second off the lead at that point — a pace that would’ve netted her a top-three finish had she kept it up through the finish. Italy’s Federica Brignone won in 1:21.64, with the Swiss pair of Lara Gut-Behrami (1:22.22) and Corinne Suter (1:22.72) rounding out the podium.
The Super-G crash was her second of the weekend after Vonn also went down during downhill training on Thursday.
It was Vonn’s fifth race back on the world Cup circuit since announcing an unlikely return to the sport after six years away. Injuries drove her to retire in 2019, but a knee replacement in 2024 left her feeling pain-free and planning a comeback. world-cup-super-g-olympics/”>She finished 14th in a Super-G in St. Moritz, Switzerland, in December and skiing-downhill-olympics-st-anton/”>took sixth in downhill and fourth in Super-G last week in St. Anton, Austria. On Saturday in Cortina, Vonn finished 20th in downhill.
Last week, Vonn skiing-comeback-retirement-1ddc6624ff088f88e3f41c98eef8e0b5″ rel=”nofollow noopener noreferrer”>told the Associated Press that she would retire again after the 2026 Olympics, if she makes the U.S. team there.
The world Cup speed skiing circuit heads to Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, next weekend ahead of the world championships in Saalbach, Austria, which begin Feb. 4.
(Photo of Lindsey Vonn during Saturday’s downhill: Mattia Ozbot / Getty Images)
