DOBBIACO, Italy — It sounds completely absurd to ski race without an ACL, which Lindsey Vonn says she will attempt to do at these Olympics. The ACL is the key ligament in the knee, connecting the thigh to the shin. It provides stability, which is a good thing to have when you are flying down a steep, icy slope at 80 mph. So what is Vonn, the Alpine star who on Tuesday revealed the extent of her injury after a fall last week in Switzerland, doing? In fact, she is doing what many other ski racers
So what is Vonn, the Alpine star who on Tuesday revealed the extent of her injury after a fall last week in Switzerland, doing?
In fact, she is doing what many other ski racers have done before.
“The dirty secret is that it happens in skiing, and some people talk about it and some don’t,” said Breezy Johnson, a downhill teammate of Vonn’s.
Johnson tore her ACL a month before the 2022 Olympics. She tried to ski on it and felt it was a bridge too far. She was also just 26 at the time and figured she could be back, which she is.
But Vonn is 41. This is it for her. Joana Hählen of Switzerland has done it without surgery. American Bode Miller was always cagey about the state of his knee ligaments. Carlo Janka of Switzerland tore his ACL in 2017 and competed in the Olympics just over two months later without surgery.
Even Vonn’s youth coach from Buck Hill in Minnesota has done it.
“I competed for three years with no ACL. Can be done,” said Tony Olin in a text message. “It’s like mechanicals on a car, a broken suspension part … gotta fix it and keep driving.”
Added Johnson: “It’s very easy for doctors to say no, this is impossible. When I tore it before the Olympics, I skied down and I didn’t think I had torn it. It’s hard. It’s not easy. It’s not the safest thing that you can conceive of doing, but it can be done, and it is done.”
From the sounds of Vonn’s determination, it’s going to be done again.
“I’ve been in this position before,” she said Tuesday. “I know how to handle it. I’ve been on the world stage before. I know how to handle that.”
Working in her favor is Vonn’s lower body. She might have one of the strongest physiques in sports, and that starts with her base. Vonn’s legs are packed with muscle.
It’s how she keeps that incredible aerodynamic tuck for so long, allowing her to glide so beautifully down the mountain. If anyone’s legs can make up for a completely ruptured ACL, it’s Vonn.
Working against her is the downhill track at Cortina. It’s not for the faint of heart. The iconic Tofana Schuss features a 65 percent gradient, with skiers sailing down two massive rocks.
Then comes the blind entry into the Duca d’Aosta jump. It sends skiers airborne by some 50 yards, but the landing can be flattish, which makes it tricky because the flatter the landing, the more force shoots up through the legs. It’s the jump that led to the crash that took out Johnson and her ACL in 2022.
Jordan Metzl, a sports medicine physician at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York — who has not treated Vonn, but has seen countless patients right after they have torn their ACLs — said Vonn’s attempt might not be as wild as it sounds.
“Everyone associates a torn ACL with ‘you’re done,’ ” Metzl said. “In sports, like soccer or football, where there is a lot of planting of the feet, they often end up having to have ACL surgery. In skiing, it’s not outside the realm to put a brace on the knee and see how it performs.”
Generally, first-time ACL tears cause significant bleeding and pain. However, if Vonn isn’t experiencing enough of that to make competing impossible, then she may be one more ski racer doing something that sounds ridiculous to everyone else.
Then again, isn’t that what skiing 80 mph down an icy slope is anyway?
— Joe Smith contributed to this report.
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
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