Lindsey Vonn believes she will get her Olympics swan song after all.
The famed Alpine skier confirmed Tuesday she completely ruptured her ACL in an emotional press conference after crashing on a course in Switzerland Friday.
“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. And, of course, what I did today on the hill is not necessarily a great test, I still need to do the downhill training run, but I also know what my knee has felt like with previous injuries in the gym, and what it’s felt like during all the physical tests and I can say I feel a lot better right now than I have in the past,” Vonn told reporters from Corina, Italy.
“… This is not an unknown for me, 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.”
When asked how she plans to train for the events moving forward, Vonn said she will take things “day by day.”
“My goal right now is obviously the downhill, I have to see how it feels. If it’s stable and I feel confident, I’ll continue to race, that is my goal, obviously, but I can’t tell you that answer until I actually ski 85 miles per hour and then I’ll tell you,” she said, smiling.
Questions about Vonn’s status for her fifth and final Winter Olympics loomed large following Friday’s harrowing incident in Crans-Montana, Switzerland, where she crashed on her final downhill race and injured her left knee.
The 41-year-old was one of three skiers to crash in the World Cup race, according to the Associated Press, which noted “difficult conditions with low visibility” that began in Friday’s downhill event.
The event was canceled in the aftermath of Vonn’s crash as conditions worsened.
Vonn, roughly two years removed from a partial knee replacement, addressed the crash in an Instagram post.
“This is a very difficult outcome one week before the Olympics… but if there’s one thing I know how to do, it’s a comeback,” she wrote Friday.
“My Olympic dream is not over. Thank you for all of the love and support.”
Vonn’s coach, Chris Knight, provided a brief update Saturday after the three-time Olympic medalist missed her final tune-up event at the super-G competition in Switzerland before the start of the Winter Games.
“No she is not racing (Saturday) but preparing for Cortina as usual,” Knight told the AP via text message.
Vonn last competed in the 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang, where she was awarded bronze in the downhill.
She clinched gold in the downhill during the 2010 Games in Vancouver and bronze in the Super-G.
The 2026 Winter Olympics kick off this week and run through Feb. 22.