Defying the odds by competing with a knee injury, American alpine skiing superstar Lindsey Vonn was injured in a crash on Sunday in her chase for Olympic gold and was taken to a hospital by helicopter.
Vonn – who at age 41 was vying to become the oldest alpine skier, man or woman, to win an Olympic medal – crashed roughly 13 seconds out of the start gate of her downhill ski on the Olympia delle Tofane slope at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics.
Skiing with a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in her left knee, Vonn crashed toward the top of her run when "her right ski pole snagged a gate, jerking her off balance and out of control," according to a statement from the U.S. Ski & Snowboard team.
Vonn already has a titanium implant in her right knee as a result of past injuries and was skiing on Sunday with a heavy brace on her recently injured left knee.
"She was airlifted from the mountain, a common practice for injuries during alpine competition," the U.S. Ski & Snowboard team statement said.
Video of the crash showed Vonn tumbling down the slope and sliding to a rest as rescue crews quickly scrambled to reach her as she lay writhing in the snow. Vonn could be heard screaming in pain on the NBC broadcast of the race as a hush fell over the spectators, including members of Vonn's family waiting at the finish line.
"Lindsey Vonn sustained an injury, but is in stable condition and in good hands with a team of American and Italian physicians," the U.S. Ski & Snowboard Team said in an updated statement after Vonn arrived at a hospital.
With Vonn out of the alpine competition, American Breezy Johnson of Jackson Hole, Wyoming, won the gold medal, becoming only the second American behind Vonn to win the event.
"She caught her right arm, right shoulder on the gate," men's downhill Olympic skier Sam Morse, who's competing at the Games, told ABC News after Vonn's crash. "If you're planted on the ground, that's one thing, you can usually use your core and rotate it. But she's in the air, so she's just a victim to rotating and it's really hard to correct that. Once you're spinning in the air you have no reference point to stabilize off of."
"Downhill skiing I will say is one of the last gladiator sports," Morse added. "There's no seat belts, there's no roll cages. We're out there in these little skintight suits just hurtling down the mountain."
Vonn suffered a torn left ACL on Jan. 30 when she fell during a downhill practice run at a World Cup race in Crans-Montana, Switzerland, the U.S. Ski & Snowboard Team reported in a social media post that day.
But just a week before the Olympic opening ceremony, Vonn announced that she would attempt to compete despite her injuries, which also included a bone bruise and tears to the meniscus, which is the cushioning cartilage in the knee between the upper and lower leg.
"I'm not letting this slip through my fingers. I'm gonna do it. End of story," Vonn said during a Feb. 3 news conference at the Cortina Curling Stadium in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy. "I'm not crying, my head is high, I'm standing tall. And I'm gonna do my best, and whatever the result is, that's what it is. But never say I didn't try."
Vonn said she decided to compete in the Olympics "after extensive consultations with doctors, intense therapy, physical tests as well as getting back on the slopes for practice runs."
"I am confident in my body's ability to perform," Vonn said.
Vonn is one of the most successful female alpine skier in history. She is a four-time overall World Cup champion and has won three Olympic medals, including gold in the downhill at the 2010 Vancouver Games.
Vonn's last win came in December at the Audi FIS World Cup at St. Moritz, Switzerland, scoring her 83rd World Cup race victory.
"It's like a dream. It's more than a dream," Vonn said after the win. "I worked so hard this summer and we have such a great team and everything has really come together, but it almost doesn't feel real."
