Entering the 2026 Olympics with a newly torn ACL, Team USA skiing icon Lindsey Vonn will race in the women's downhill event on Sunday — with the 41-year-old using it as a test case before committing to additional events at the Winter Games.
Vonn is also hoping to compete in Tuesday's team combined slalom event — possibly alongside fellow US star Mikaela Shiffrin — but the recent knee injury could derail her fifth, and likely final, Winter Olympics run.
"It will be objective performance that will define what our teams look like," USA women's skiing head coach Paul Kristofic clarified. "In the end, my job is to put the best pairings together so we can perform and get a medal and potentially win."
With Vonn's status technically still unclear, Italy is eyeing a home win, as 2018 gold medalist Sofia Goggia teams up with fellow decorated veteran Federica Brignone on Tuesday.
That said, Vonn successfully completed an early Friday training run — on the same Cortina course where she holds a record 12 World Cup wins.
"She was smart. She didn't go all in," said Vonn's coach Aksel Lund Svindal after her 11th-place run. "There was reserves today.... It's going to be hard but I think she could possibly [medal] on Sunday."
"No one would have believed I would be here…but I made it!!" Vonn posted to social media prior to Friday's downhill training. "I'm not going to waste this chance.... Let's go get it!!"
How to watch Lindsey Vonn at the 2026 Winter Olympics downhill event
Vonn will make her 2026 Olympic debut in the women's downhill event at 5:30 AM ET on Sunday, with live coverage airing on USA Network.
The comeback story for Team USA skier Lindsey Vonn isn't over yet, as the 41-year-old announced on Tuesday that she'll hit the slopes at the 2026 Winter Olympics despite tearing her ACL last week.
Vonn said she "completely ruptured" her left ACL while also suffering bone bruising and meniscus damage during last Friday's FIS World Cup downhill event in Crans-Montana, Switzerland, but added tht she's still able to ski with a knee brace.
"My knee is not swollen, and with the help of a knee brace, I am confident that I can compete on Sunday," Vonn told reporters. "I will do everything in my power to be in the starting gate."
Amid one of the biggest comeback seasons in alpine skiing history, Vonn expressed comfort with overcoming adversity — even if it's for the last time.
"This would be the best comeback I've done so far," Vonn said, after recovering from a previous ACL injury and subsequent surgery more than 10 years ago. "Definitely the most dramatic."
In addition to her signature downhill event, the three-time Olympic medalist voiced interest in participating in the Super G and a new combined team event.
How to watch Lindsey Vonn at the 2026 Winter Olympics
Vonn will open her Milano-Cortina campaign in the women's downhill at 5:30 AM ET on Sunday, airing live on Peacock.
Team USA will see 97 skiers and snowboarders representing the red, white, and blue in Milan next month, with US Ski & Snowboard tapping a wealth of veteran experience for the 2026 Winter Olympic roster on Thursday.
All-time winningest FIS World Cup skier Mikaela Shiffrin will compete in her fourth Winter Games, with the 30-year-old two-time Olympic gold medalist hunting hardware in her preferred slalom event after failing to medal in Beijing in 2022.
At the same time, 41-year-old skier Lindsey Vonn is also mounting a dramatic comeback, participating in her fifth Olympics after winning multiple downhill medals on this season's World Cup circuit.
Also returning to the Olympic stage will be 25-year-old halfpipe star Chloe Kim, who is officially clear to return to competition after a recent shoulder dislocation put her Milan plans to become the first snowboarder to win three straight Olympic gold medals in jeopardy.
Alongside the deep veteran talent on the roster, US Ski & Snowboard is sending 48 athletes to make their Olympic debuts next month, including 15-year-old halfpipe freestyle skiier Abby Winterberger and 20-year-old two-sport talent Sammy Smith.
Smith, a Stanford sophomore and starting defender for the 2025 College Cup runner-up Cardinal soccer team, will compete in cross-country skiing for Team USA in Milan.
Considering 15 of the 25 US Olympic medals at the 2022 Beijing Games came from ski and snowboarding, US snowboard program director Rick Bower noted that, "In many ways, making this team is even harder than [competing in] the Olympics themselves."
With the 2026 Winter Olympics fast approaching, US skiing icon Mikaela Shiffrin has started the 2025/26 FIS World Cup cycle in top form — particularly in her favored slalom event.
Closing out last season with a victory, Shiffrin is currently on a multi-event winning streak, earning her sixth straight slalom title in Semmering, Austria, on Sunday.
"It was a really hard day today, tough conditions, a really big fight, and the pressure's on… I did my best, best possible run," Shiffrin said afterwards.
Momentum is on her side, with Shiffrin set to enter the 2026 Winter Games in Italy as the winningest skier in World Cup history, surpassing Swedish legend Ingemar Stenmark's 86 wins in March 2023 and becoming the first skier to reach 100 World Cup victories earlier this year.
Sunday's race marked the 30-year-old's 106th career World Cup title, with Shiffrin looking to add to her ever-growing historic record with three more slalom events scheduled before the Olympic women's Alpine skiing events kick off on February 8th.
The 2014 Olympic slalom champion and 2018 Winter Games giant slalom gold medalist is aiming to return to the podium after failing to medal at the 2022 Beijing Olympics.
Shiffrin will likely hit the slopes again next weekend, when the women's FIS World Cup lands in Kranjska Gora, Slovenia, for a giant slalom and slalom competition.
US skiing icon Lindsey Vonn is officially back, clinching her spot on Team USA's 2026 Winter Olympics roster this week behind stellar recent performances on the sport's World Cup tour.
The 41-year-old made headlines two weekends ago when she became the oldest Alpine Ski World Cup winner since the circuit's 1967 inception, taking first in the downhill race in St. Moritz, Switzerland on December 12th — her 83rd World Cup victory.
"Every single thing that I could do to be faster, I did," said Vonn after winning the downhill event. "And now, now this is what happens. You get the reward."
Vonn is continuing to rack up the rewards, claiming podium finishes in four of the five total races she's competed in so far this season, earning another second-place downhill finish in St. Moritz before taking third in both downhill and the Super G in Val-d'Isère, France, last weekend.
As for her fifth World Cup race, Vonn clocked in at a still-impressive fourth.
"Four podiums in five races, I couldn't really be any happier," the Olympic gold medalist said in response.
Those finishes have the US ski legend sitting at No. 1 in the World Cup downhill standings and No. 3 in the Super-G — with her downhill ranking putting her far enough ahead to guarantee Vonn one of the four Team USA roster spots at the 2026 Olympics.
"Lindsey qualifying for the 2026 Olympic team is a testament to her resilience and dedication," said US Ski & Snowboard president and CEO Sophie Goldschmidt, confirming Vonn's Team USA qualification in a Tuesday statement. "She's proven once again that elite performance isn't just about past success, it's about rising to the moment, race after race."
Success spurs Vonn to extend final competitive season
Returning to competitive skiing in November 2024 following her retirement in February 2019, Vonn spent part of her five-year hiatus undergoing and recovering from a titanium knee replacement that ultimately returned her to the slopes.
Though Vonn previously planned to retire immediately after February's Winter Games in Cortina, Italy, she's now setting her sights on completing the World Cup circuit in March — though that will officially be the end of the road for the US icon.
"I feel like I'm rolling the dice enough as it is, being 41 and putting myself through this," Vonn told The Athletic. "So this is a one-season, final season."
That said, she'll look to add to her trio of Olympic medals before hanging up her competitive skis.
"For Cortina, things are looking pretty f—ing awesome."