Lindsey Vonn preparing to leave Italy after Olympics crash, says ski team chief

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Lindsey Vonn is preparing to instrumentality to the United States, the U.S. Ski Team's main told The Associated Press connected Sunday, saying the champion skier was getting acceptable to alert backmost location for further attraction after wiping retired successful the women's Olympic downhill competition last weekend.

Sophie Goldschmidt, president and CEO of the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association, told the AP the team's aesculapian unit has been coordinating Vonn's betterment since the clang and consequent chopper evacuation astatine the Milan Cortina Games and would effort to travel her home. Vonn has had aggregate surgeries successful Italy to repair a analyzable tibia fracture successful her near leg.

"We're moving done each of that astatine the moment," Goldschmidt said. "We've got a large squad astir helping her and she'll spell backmost to the U.S. for further surgeries."

Spectators tuning successful to spot Vonn attempt to triumph a medal astatine property 41 with a torn ACL successful her near genu and a partial titanium replacement successful her close genu were thrown into daze erstwhile the American standout got hooked connected a gross 13 seconds into her tally — resulting successful a spinning, air-born clang that sent her careening down the Dolomite mountain.

"The impact, the silence, everyone was conscionable successful shock. And you could archer it was a truly nasty injury," said Goldschmidt, who was successful attendance for the fall. "There's a batch of information successful doing each sorts of Alpine sports but it gives much of an appreciation for however superhuman these athletes are.

"I mean, putting your assemblage connected the line, going astatine those speeds, the physicality. Sometimes, really connected the broadcast, it's truly hard to get that across," Goldschmidt added. "Danger sometimes brings fans successful and is beauteous captivating. We evidently anticipation we won't person injuries similar that but it is unluckily portion and parcel of our sports."

Vonn said connected Friday that she was expecting to person different country for the limb injury, which was slated to hap connected Saturday. In a video shared to societal media, Vonn told her followers that she could perchance instrumentality to the U.S. aft that country if it went well. At that point, she had already undergone 3 surgeries since her crash.

But Vonn has nary regrets astir skiing successful the 2026 Olympics.

"When I deliberation backmost connected my crash, I didn't basal successful the starting gross unaware of the imaginable consequences," Vonn said successful an Instagram post precocious Saturday. "I knew what I was doing. I chose to instrumentality a risk. Every skier successful that starting gross took the aforesaid risk. Because adjacent if you are the strongest idiosyncratic successful the world, the upland ever holds the cards.

"But conscionable due to the fact that I was ready, that didn't warrant maine anything. Nothing successful beingness is guaranteed. That's the gamble of chasing your dreams, you mightiness autumn but if you don't effort you'll ne'er know," Vonn added.

Goldschmidt visited Vonn astatine the infirmary doubly and said, "She's not successful pain. She's successful a unchangeable condition."

"She took an assertive enactment and was each successful and it was inches disconnected what could person ended up a precise antithetic way," Goldschmidt said. "But what she's done for our sports and the athletics successful general, her being a relation model, has gone to a full caller level. You larn often much astir radical during these pugnacious moments than erstwhile they're winning."

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