The 2026 Winter Olympics ended Sunday with an epic Men’s Hockey Final.
American Jack Hughes lost some teeth then knocked out Canada to win gold in sudden death overtime, leaving us with this iconic photo forever.
It was the perfect end to these Winter Games.
But it’s not what I will remember most from Milano Cortina.
Above all, I will remember Lindsey Vonn.
Have you been following her story?
I cannot stop thinking about it.
On February 3, less than a week before she was scheduled to compete in the Olympic Downhill, Vonn posted an update.
“Well… I completely tore my ACL last Friday,” Vonn wrote. “This was obviously incredibly hard news to receive one week before the Olympics.”
Most assumed that was it for the 41-year-old Vonn. How do you compete in the Olympics with a fully torn ACL?
Mind you, the ACL tear was in Vonn’s good knee.
Her other knee already had titanium in it from a partial replacement.
But Vonn thought differently.
“After extensive consultations with doctors, intense therapy, physical tests as well as skiing today, I have determined I am capable of competing in the Olympic Downhill,” she said. “I am confident in my body’s ability to perform.”
And like that, Vonn gripped a nation.
Over the following days, Vonn went through the process of preparing.
The first hurdle was making it through a training run unscathed. “Solid run and feeling good,” Vonn shared. “One step at a time.”
After a second successful training run, it was go time.
“Tomorrow: One last Olympic downhill run,” Vonn shared on February 7. “I will stand in the starting gate tomorrow and know I am strong. Know that I believe in myself. Know that the odds are stacked against me with my age, no ACL, and a titanium knee - but know that I still believe.”
I had no plans to wake up early that Sunday morning and watch the Olympics.
But I haven’t been as inspired by an athlete as I have been by Vonn in a long time. So, I awoke early to catch Vonn’s race.
As you likely know by now, it did not go well.
Vonn’s race lasted 13 seconds, ending in a vicious crash that fractured her tibia and required Vonn to be airlifted off the mountain.
The day after the event, Vonn shared this update:
“While yesterday did not end the way I had hoped, and despite the intense physical pain it caused, I have no regrets. Standing in the starting gate yesterday was an incredible feeling that I will never forget. Knowing I stood there having a chance to win was a victory in and of itself. I also knew that racing was a risk …
“And similar to ski racing, we take risks in life. We dream. We love. We jump. And sometimes we fall. Sometimes our hearts are broken. Sometimes we don’t achieve the dreams we know we could have. But that is also the beauty of life; we can try.
“I tried. I dreamt. I jumped.
“I hope if you take away anything from my journey it’s that you all have the courage to dare greatly. Life is too short not to take chances on yourself.”
~
I’m writing this in the morning on Monday, February 23.
A couple hours ago, Vonn posted another update detailing her injury further.
Here’s a summary of what happened:
She suffered a complex tibia fracture in her left leg.
Her left leg had compartment syndrome. In simple terms, this happens when too much blood gathers in one area of the body due to trauma. The blood gets stuck and crushes what’s in that “compartment.” Essentially, the muscles, nerves and tendons in that area die.
Vonn’s doctor, Dr. Tom Hackett, performed an emergency surgery to relieve the pressure and save Vonn’s left leg. Otherwise, she was facing amputation.
Vonn underwent four surgeries in Italy before being cleared to come home to the United States.
Vonn underwent a fifth surgery in the U.S., putting her leg back together with plates and screws.
She also broke her right ankle in the crash.
As of this moment, Vonn has been released from the hospital in Colorado and moved to a hotel.
She will be in a wheelchair for a few more weeks and then on crutches for a couple months after that.
It will take “around a year” for the bones in her left leg to heal. Vonn will then decide if she wants to undergo surgery to take all the metal out of her leg or not.
And then, finally, she’ll go back into surgery to fix the ACL.
~
This is not how Vonn wanted her Olympics to go, of course.
And none of us did either.
We wanted the fairytale of Vonn winning gold in her final Olympic Downhill, not the pain, trauma and 12+ month recovery process she’s now enduring.
But I don’t think the fairytale story would have impacted people around the world quite like this.
We admire champions.
But we respect warriors.
Champions, in some way, are unrelatable. Their achievements can feel unattainable.
Warriors are different.
People who push to the absolute limit, who give all of themselves, who care more about honoring the craft and competition than anything else, move us.
They give us a model to aspire to in our own lives and in our own ways.
~
As the support poured in for Vonn in the days following her crash, she made a post on Instagram thanking people for the love, empathy and support.
“But please not sadness or sympathy,” she insisted.
“When I think back on my crash, I didn’t stand in the starting gate unaware of the potential consequences,” Vonn wrote. “I knew what I was doing. I chose to take a risk. Every skier in that starting gate took the same risk.
“Because even if you are the strongest person in the world, the mountain always holds the cards.
“I was willing to risk and push and sacrifice for something I knew I was absolutely capable of doing. I will always take the risk of crashing while giving it my all, rather than not ski to my potential and have regret.
“I never want to cross [the] finish line and say ,“what if?”
“So please, don’t feel sad. The ride was worth the fall.
“When I close my eyes at night I don’t have regrets and the love I have for skiing remains.
“I am still looking forward to the moment when I can stand on the top of the mountain once more.
“And I will.”
The heart of a champion, the soul of a warrior.
That is Lindsey Vonn.
I’ll be thinking about her race–and how she attacked everything that came after–for a long, long time.
Feel free to reply and share your thoughts. Thanks for reading, y’all.
Cheers,
Teddy
