2026 Winter Olympics live updates: Lindsey Vonn crashes early in the Olympic women’s downhill

What to know:

• Breezy Johnson wins gold medal for the United States: The Jackson Hole, Wyoming, native was 0.04 seconds clear of Emma Aicher of Germany. Sofia Goggia of Italy took the bronze. The 30-year-old Johnson’s only previous Winter Olympics was in 2018, when she didn’t make the podium in the downhill or Super-G. She was injured for the 2022 Games.
• Two other skiers crash after Vonn: Andorra’s Cande Moreno and Austria’s Nina Ortlieb both crashed during their runs. Ortlieb was able to stand up and walk off the course, while Moreno needed to be airlifted.
• What is an ACL rupture? The ACL, or anterior cruciate ligament, connects the femur, or thighbone, to the tibia, or shinbone. A rupture is a tear in the ligament that typically occurs in sports that involve quick changes in direction, such as basketball, soccer and skiing. Athletes typically hear a loud “pop” in the knee, which immediately gives out, followed by significant swelling.

Breezy Johnson has won gold in the women’s downhill for her first Olympic medal.

The Jackson Hole, Wyoming, native was 0.04 seconds clear of Emma Aicher of Germany. Sofia Goggia of Italy took the bronze.

The 30-year-old Johnson’s only previous Winter Olympics was in 2018, when she didn’t make the podium in the downhill or Super-G. She was injured for the 2022 Games.

Johnson won gold in the downhill at the world championship last year in Austria.

Moreno is the third skier to crash in this race. After losing control, she slid down the mountain, her poles and skis trailing behind her.

She lay on the course while medics tended to her.

While Olympia delle Tofane is one of the most iconic ski runs in the sport, it’s also one of the most difficult.

Ortlieb and another skier, Norway’s Marte Monsen, both crashed in the same area as Vonn at the World Cup race in Crans-Montana last month.

Ortlieb lost control and crashed shortly after the competition resumed following Vonn’s crash.

Ortlieb pounded her fist on the snow before standing back up and exiting the course.

There was a brief delay before the competition resumed.

American Breezy Johnson is in position to claim the women’s downhill.

Johnson’s time of 1:36.10 held up through the first 20 competitors, with only lower ranked competitors remaining.

Johnson is likely to win gold, which would add to her world championship gold in downhill that she won last year in Austria.

Johan Eliasch, president of the International Ski and Snowboard Federation, called Vonn’s crash “tragic” but added “that’s ski racing.”

Eliasch added that critics who thought Vonn shouldn’t be racing because the injury to her left knee, “don’t know Lindsey.”

Sofia Goggia of Italy, who lit the Olympic flame in Cortina during opening ceremonies, is in third through 15 skiers.

Goggia had the fastest time in the early split but then briefly lost her line in the top section, costing her precious fractions of a second.

She is third behind Breezy Johnson of the U.S. and Emma Aicher of Germany

The women’s downhill race has resumed following a lengthy delay after Vonn’s crash.

Mirjam Puchner of Austria is on the course after a break of around 20 minutes.

Until Vonn’s crash, the early runs in Cortina had been fast and clean.

Vonn, going 13th, was the first one who did not make it to the bottom of the 2,572-meter course.

While helicopter medics tended to Vonn, the announcers at the venue offered thoughts and concerns for her health.

One finished by saying “We love you, Lindsey,” which was met with warm applause by the thousands of spectators who crammed the bleachers to watch Vonn try to make history.

The crash left the crowd at the bottom of the course stunned and some appeared to be anguished.

Among them was rap star and NBC Sports ambassador Snoop Dogg, who quietly watched and waited for word on Vonn.

Vonn appeared to lose her balance in the air after clearing just a handful of the 36 gates.

She lay in the snow while being tended to by medical personnel on the course.

The race was paused while she received treatment.

Vonn appeared to clip a gate with her right arm, ending her hope of Olympic gold at 41 just 13 seconds into her run.

Vonn washed out during the early stages of the downhill. The 41-year-old lost control in the tricky top portion in Cortina.

The crowd at the finish, including members of Vonn’s family, gasped as Vonn lost her edge.

The picture perfect conditions are leading to some fast and clean runs in Cortina.

Breezy Johnson of the U.S. was fastest among the first 10 skiers down the mountain. Germany’s Emma Aicher was second, just .04 seconds behind.

The downhill is all about speed and if you’re trying to figure out what that means for skiers, here’s a few tips:

Skiers who turn rely on the edges on the bottom of their skis, sharpened to a skier’s preference. The more you need to use your edges on a turn, the more time you lose.

So if you see a skier spraying a lot of snow on a turn, that’s costing them time. Better for the clock is to stay on the flats of your skis — no edges — but that’s easy to say when you’re trying to keep from crashing at more than 100 kph (62 mph).

Vonn’s teammate Breezy Johnson set the early pace in the women’s downhill.

The 30-year-old Johnson finished in 1:36.10, more than a full second faster than the next skier.

Johnson, sixth out of the gate, was the first of the favorites to go. Her time put her in solid contention for a medal.

The American rapper was seen grinning in the crowd after the first American, Breezy Johnson, completed her run, pulling into the lead.

The speed limit on the roads leading into Cortina top out at 90 kilometers per hour (about 55 mph).

The women’s downhill racers break that, and then some. Skiers can reach up 130 km/h (about 80 mph) on the course.

The women’s downhill is underway in Cortina.

Malorie Blanc of Switzerland was the first of 36 skiers out of the gate. The 22-year-old navigated the 2,572 meter course on 1:38.77.

Vonn will go 13th.

One of the biggest reasons Vonn came back in the first place after nearly six years of retirement — and what’s motivating her now that the Winter Games have begun — was the chance to return to northern Italy.

Quite simply, Vonn is the queen of Cortina d’Ampezzo, the resort known as “the Queen of the Dolomites.”

Her memories there go back nearly a quarter century. They include: Her first career podium. The women’s World Cup wins mark. A course-record 12 victories. Family reunions with her Italy-based sister. And the memory of a rare European race visit from her late mother.

The women’s downhill in Cortina is held on the Olympia delle Tofane, one of the most iconic ski runs in the sport.

It is 1.6 miles (2,560 meters) long with a vertical drop of more than 2,400 feet (750 meters), carving through the trees and spectacular rock features of the Dolomites above the town of Cortina d’Ampezzo.

The race begins with the Tofana Schuss, a steep section with a 64% grade. The course then leads into the Gran Curvone, the entrance to the central section, and then the Scarpadon segment.

Watch for the schuss, or chute, which comes about 20 seconds into the downhill. Following a hard left turn, racers ramp to 135 kph (85 mph) as they dive down into the shady schuss and have to shift back to the right as they go over the Duca d’Aosta jump.

“It’s like Formula One on skis — truly fast,” recently retired Austrian skier Tamara Tippler says. “Your helmet whistles and that’s such a cool feeling.”

The top Olympic skiers – and especially Vonn – know the course well since it has been a fixture on the World Cup circuit since 1993. Vonn has a record 12 wins here.

It may be surprising to some to see Vonn trying to win Olympic gold with a titanium-fixed right knee and an unrepaired ruptured ACL in her left knee. But the truth is, she has skied through injuries for three decades at the top of the sport.

In 2006 ahead of the Turin Olympics, the last Winter Games in Italy before this year, Vonn took a bad fall during downhill training and went to the hospital with bumps and bruises. She competed less than 48 hours later, racing in all four events she’d planned, with a top result of seventh in the super-G. “It’s definitely weird,” she said then, “going from the hospital bed to the start gate.”

“I don’t think anyone remembers Michael Jordan’s comeback,” Vonn said at the Team USA Olympic Media Summit ahead of the 2026 Milan-Cortina Games. “I don’t think that tarnished his legacy at all. … I’ve already succeeded. I’ve already won.”

The American ski great with medals in multiple disciplines said she’s not worried about tarnishing her legacy after coming out of retirement several years after she last competed.

“I don’t think I would have tried this comeback if the Olympics weren’t in Cortina,” Vonn said. “If it had been anywhere else, I would probably say it’s not worth it. But, for me, there’s something special about Cortina that always pulls me back and it’s pulled me back one last time.”

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The race starts at 11:30 a.m. in Cortina (5:30 a.m. ET).

Vonn is 13th in the starting order, and it takes about 1 minute and 35 seconds to complete the course.

For the top 15 starters, the start intervals are 2 minutes and 30 seconds. So – barring any crashes or other delays, Vonn should start her run shortly after noon local time (6 a.m. ET).

95 seconds later, she should complete her run. Then there are about seven more contenders before the winner should be decided.

On the eve of the race, fellow American superstar Mikaela Shiffrin — who is not participating in the downhill — said she would be glued to a TV watching.

“I am so excited to watch,” Shiffrin said. “I mentioned tenacity, her tenacity and grit and what she’s showing with this Olympics and staying true to her own values. That’s just straight up beautiful and I’m so, so excited to see Lindsey and Breezy (Johnson) and Jackie (Wiles), like all of my teammates competing.”

Shiffrin could be paired with Vonn in the team combined, which has one skier do a downhill and the other a slalom. But first, Vonn’s big moment.

“I have like 100% belief that anything is possible,” Shiffrin said. “She’s done just such incredible things despite injury, through injury, before. I have a lot of belief, I’m just, I’m crossing my fingers for all my teammates.”

Seeing if Lindsey Vonn can contend for a medal in the Olympic downhill at age 41 with a titanium replacement in her right knee to cap her comeback after nearly six years of retirement was already going to be one of the highlights of the Milan Cortina Olympics.

“This would be the best comeback I’ve done so far,” Vonn said. “Definitely the most dramatic.”

So dramatic that it has motivated people to question whether it’s something out of science fiction or attention hunting. Which is just the type of motivation that Vonn thrives on.

“My life does not revolve around ski racing. I am a woman that loves to ski. I don’t have an identity issue, I know exactly who I am. I was retired for 6 years and I have an amazing life,” Vonn posted Saturday on X. “I don’t need to ski, but I love to ski. I came all this way for one final Olympics and I’m going to go and do my best, ACL or no. It’s as simple as that,” Vonn said on social media.