While the crowd was silent following Lindsey Vonn’s scary crash, a BBC broadcaster was holding back tears.
Emotion took over former British downhill skier Chemmy Alcott, who raced with Vonn during her career, as the decorated American skier was attended to by medical staff following a crash just 13 seconds into her downhill run early Sunday morning at the 2026 Winter Olympics.
The fall came after Vonn crashed during a tune-up run and ruptured her ACL in her left knee.
“I feel guilty that I am this emotional. I just never believed it would end in a clump at the side of the piste, not moving,” Alcott said, per The Daily Mail, while reporting at the finish of the course in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy. “What we saw that the top of the piste is really hard for a fit athlete, she just had her right knee. It is brutal, think about her family, her team and herself. We have to be realistic. The risk was really high, the risk she takes when she falls will double that, her body will not be able to take that.
“There is clapping and there is hope that she would be okay but they have put up some background music because it is uncomfortable.”
Vonn, 41, was eventually placed in a stretcher and airlifted off the course to a hospital via helicopter. The race was suspended about 20 minutes before resuming.
“This sport is tough and you are pushing yourself to your limit at speed,” Alcott added. “We have a standing ovation now as the helicopter goes.”
Following the crash and airlift, U.S. Ski & Snowboard announced that Vonn was being evaluated by medical staff.
Later on, Alcott reported it was likely that the three-time Olympic medalist was going to be flown to a hospital in Innsbruck, Austria, as local hospitals wouldn’t have what she needs. Additionally, she said the doctor who has guided Vonn through her ACL injury was in the helicopter as well.
Alcott wasn’t the only one shaken up around the course.
Vonn’s family and fellow Team USA teammates were visibly emotional throughout the delay of the race. Heads were hands in disbelief.
One of them was Breezy Johnson, who went on to win gold in the women’s downhill after setting an early pace. It marked the first gold medal for the U.S. in the Milan Cortina Olympics.
It also made Johnson the second American woman to win gold in the Olympic downhill. Vonn is the only other woman to do so, winning at the 2010 Vancouver Games.
“Breezy Johnson will not be enjoying sitting in that [gold medal] chair, we all know what Lindsey has done to our sport,’ Alcott went on. “Lindsey was an early bib number and the temperature is increasing so the later athletes will be taking a big risk.”
