{"id":13600,"date":"2026-02-08T18:37:21","date_gmt":"2026-02-09T01:37:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/lindsey-vonns-fall-explained\/"},"modified":"2026-03-25T19:31:34","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T19:31:34","slug":"lindsey-vonns-fall-explained","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/lindsey-vonns-fall-explained\/","title":{"rendered":"Lindsey Vonn\u2019s fall explained"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"In
In this image taken from video provided by Olympic Broadcasting Services, OBS, United States' Lindsey Vonn crashes during an alpine ski women's downhill race, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (Olympic Broadcasting Services via AP)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

CORTINA D\u2019AMPEZZO, Italy \u2014 Lindsey Vonn knows the Olympic downhill course better than anyone.<\/p>\n

She has won a record 12 World Cup races on the Olympia delle Tofane track \u2014 six downhills and six super\u2011Gs \u2014 and has 20 total podium finishes there dating back to her first year on the circuit in 2004.<\/p>\n

So how did the 41\u2011year\u2011old American standout lose control just 12.5 seconds into her run and crash at the Milan Cortina Winter Games on Sunday?<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what happened and why.<\/p>\n

Critical early section<\/div>\n

The highlight of the downhill course is the Tofana schuss, a narrow chute between two Dolomite rock walls where skiers reach 80 mph (130 kph).<\/p>\n

But the real key comes above the schuss, where a crucial right turn includes an uphill stretch. That\u2019s where Vonn went down.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s incredibly reverse banked,\u201d said Kristian Ghedina, the Cortina native and former racer who grew up just below the finish line. \u201cThat\u2019s where your speed for the rest of the course gets determined and if you don\u2019t take the right trajectory it makes a huge difference because you end up going uphill.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"In
In this image taken from video provided by Olympic Broadcasting Services, OBS, United States' Lindsey Vonn is prepared for evacuation after crashing during an alpine ski women's downhill race, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (Olympic Broadcasting Services via AP)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>
Bumped into the air and clipped a gate<\/div>\n

While fighting that reverse bank and drifting slightly uphill, Vonn was launched into the air by a bump and clipped the fourth gate with her right side.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s when the crash began.<\/p>\n

Vonn tried to twist and regain balance in mid\u2011air but landed awkwardly with her skis perpendicular to the fall line, ensuring a hard fall. She tumbled, bounced into the air again and landed on her neck area before sliding to a stop in the middle of the course, away from safety netting but clearly injured.<\/p>\n

Hours later, Vonn underwent surgery for a broken left leg and was reported to be in stable condition.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s super flat after it so the goal is to be as close to that gate as possible and she really nailed the turn but she was too close to it so she got hooked into it,\u201d Norwegian skier Kajsa Vickhoff Lie said. \u201cBut that\u2019s how it is with the Olympics, you really want to be on the limit and she was a little bit over the limit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lie added that the final bump in that section is \u201cmore of a kicker\u201d this year, which is why Vonn was popped up so suddenly.<\/p>\n

\u201cI watched the video, and probably like anybody else, saw that she went through that panel, that uphill double, and for sure kicked her in the air and there was a pretty significant fall after that,\u201d head U.S. ski coach Paul Kristofic told The Associated Press.<\/p>\n

Organizers defend course preparation<\/div>\n

Women\u2019s race director Peter Gerdol said the section where Vonn crashed was \u201cnot really more different than other years.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the Cortina downhill and this year we\u2019re talking about the Olympics,\u201d he told AP. \u201cIt\u2019s awarding Olympic medals so has to be somehow challenging.\u201d<\/p>\n

Had attention been paid to managing the size of that bump?<\/p>\n

\u201cNot severely,\u201d Gerdol said. \u201cBecause actually today, all the athletes went through quite easily. Lindsey made a mistake and it happens. It can happen in any section of the course. It happened there but it could have been in another.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mandatory air bag inflated<\/div>\n

When she came to a stop, Vonn\u2019s skis pointed in opposite directions, still attached to her bindings. She moved her left arm toward her body but remained largely immobile until help arrived. After several minutes of medical care, she was airlifted away by helicopter.<\/p>\n

The mandatory safety air bag under her racing suit deployed during the crash, equipment supplier Dainese confirmed to AP. The device, triggered by algorithm when racers lose control, may have softened her landing.<\/p>\n

It was clear the air bag had inflated because Vonn\u2019s chest appeared expanded as she lay on the snow.<\/p>\n

Marco Pastore, who works with Dainese\u2019s safety system, said the air bag deflates after about 20 seconds, so it likely did so while Vonn was lying on the course. Eventually, Dainese will try to retrieve a \u201cblack box\u201d sensor that could provide data from the fall.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was wearing it when they took her away in the helicopter,\u201d Pastore said. \u201cSo we haven\u2019t gotten the data yet.\u201d<\/p>\n

AP Sports Writer Steve Douglas contributed to this report.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A reverse\u2011banked section, an unfortunate bump and an inflated air bag<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13601,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-13600","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13600","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13600"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13600\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19061,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13600\/revisions\/19061"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13601"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13600"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13600"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13600"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=13600"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}