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We’re talking about practice. Yeah, and there’s a good reason. This wasn’t just a bunch of guys grabbing some basketballs and following their coach’s plan for 90 minutes, or even a team walk-through on the eve of the Super Bowl. This was much bigger. And dangerous. And, for all of us who merely are mortal, some combination of baffling, breathtaking and bonkers.
Friday at Cortina, Lindsey Vonn skied the downhill course as it is set up for the Olympic Games.
She is only one week removed from tearing the ACL in her left knee.
She was going nearly 70 miles per hour on one good leg.
And that one, to be honest, has been surgically rebuilt.
They clocked her as they would any competitor preparing to race for the gold medal at the Winter Olympics, and she covered the course in 1:40.33, which was nearly a half-second slower than the athlete who’d gone fastest to that point and ultimately 1.39 seconds behind American Jackie Wiles, who went quickest in the session.
The result seems almost beside the point. They should give Vonn a gold medal if she gets all the way down the course again Sunday without crashing, even if it takes her longer to finish than an Oscar-nominated movie.
MORE: Surgeon explains how Lindsay Vonn can ski with ruptured ACL
Vonn won’t think that way. She’s not pushing through this degree of discomfort to prove she can. She already made a ridiculous recovery and resurrection from a partial knee replacement surgery in April 2024, not only returning to the pro circuit but twice winning World Cup races. In the 2025-26 season, she earned podium finishes in all five of her downhill races.
We already know there are few like her in all of sports, apparently impervious to age or injury. She is doing this because she has that insatiable hunger to continue competing as long as (super)humanly possible, the same quality that has infected LeBron James, Cristiano Ronaldo, Dara Torres and Jaromir Jagr.
ADAMS: Lindsay Vonn proves she can still medal despite injury
Friday’s run was not perfect, far from her best, and yet even in that sense it was extraordinary. Halfway down the course, she took a right turn too wide and went well off the ideal course, identified by the blue lines painted into the snow, but she corrected quickly enough not to miss the next gate. It cost her time, but it was impressive – and instructive – she did not simply abandon the run. She knew it mattered to finish.
She was pleased enough to fist-bump a teammate at the finish.
MORE: 2026 Winter Olympic viewing guide, including schedules and how to watch each event
Vonn’s decision has led to some fairly predictable but still fairly vulgar assertions she should set her skis aside and let someone else compete, criticisms that frequently assumed she was in this position because of her fame and not her exceptional racing this season.
I could pull some of the tweets, but I’d prefer to allow Vonn’s performance to embarrass them quietly.
She also addressed the skepticism of a physician on Twitter, Brian Sutterer, who asserted that Vonn’s knee might already have been damaged long enough that her leg essentially adapted. “Bottom line, I don’t think this was a bread and butter, fresh ACL tear like everyone is thinking.”
Vonn doesn’t have a medical degree, but it’s her knee.
“My ACL was fully functioning until last Friday,” Vonn posted. “Just because it seems impossible to you doesn’t mean it’s not possible. And yes, my ACL is 100% ruptured. Not 80% or 50%. It’s 100% gone.”
Lindsey Vonn’s still here.
Don’t try to understand.
Just enjoy. We won’t see anything like this for a while.
After this week, I mean.
Lindsey Vonn skiing schedule day-by-day
Here is the full schedule for Vonn's events at the 2026 Winter Olympics:
Friday, Feb. 6
| Event | Time (ET) | TV/live stream |
| Women's Downhill - Training | 5:30 a.m. | Peacock |
Saturday, Feb. 7
| Event | Time (ET) | TV/live stream |
| Women's Downhill - Training | 5:30 a.m. | Peacock |
Sunday, Feb. 8
| 5:30 a.m. | Women's Downhill | USA, Peacock |
Tuesday, Feb. 10
| 4:30 a.m. | Women's Team Combined: Downhill | USA, Peacock |
Thursday, Feb. 12
| 5:30 a.m. | Women's Super-G | USA, Peacock |
English (US)