Lindsey Vonn is 'confident' she can race at Olympics despite ruptured ACL in left knee

CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy (AP) — Lindsey Vonn has done this before. And succeeded.

The 41-year-old American skiing standout is “confident” she can compete at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics despite a torn ACL from a crash four days ago.

Vonn said that the damage to her left knee was a “completely ruptured” ACL, bone bruising “plus meniscal damage.”

After three days of physical therapy and doctors' advice, Vonn tried skiing on Tuesday. She did not appear to be limping as she entered and exited a news conference.

“My knee is not swollen, and with the help of a knee brace, I am confident that I can compete on Sunday," Vonn said. "And as long as there’s a chance, I will try . . . I will do everything in my power to be in the starting gate."

Vonn crashed in a World Cup downhill in Crans-Montana, Switzerland on Friday and ended up in the safety nets. After skiing to the bottom of the course she was taken to hospital.

Vonn is expected to be one of the biggest stars of the Winter Games, which start Friday with the opening ceremony. Her first race comes two days later in the women’s downhill. She also plans on competing in super-G and the new team combined event.

The opening women’s downhill training session is scheduled for Thursday.

“My intention,” Vonn said, “is to race everything.”

Vonn has had numerous crashes and injuries in her career. One of her worst was at the 2013 world championships in Schladming, Austria during a super-G that was also held in difficult conditions.

Vonn tore her right knee. She returned the following season, got hurt again and missed the 2014 Sochi Olympics.

She was also battered up before the 2019 world championships but took bronze in downhill before going into a nearly six-year retirement.

“I’ve been in this position before. I know how to handle it,” Vonn said. “I feel a lot better now than I did in 2019 . . . And I still got a medal there with no LCL and three tibial plateau fractures. So, like I said, this is not an unknown for me. I’ve done this before.”

She persevered through a bruised shin that she treated with topfen cheese before winning gold in downhill at the 2010 Games.

“I don't need topfen now. My knee isn't swollen,” Vonn said.

It's a home remedy whereby the cheese is applied to the offending area and helps to reduce swelling.

“This would be the best comeback I’ve done so far," Vonn said. "Definitely the most dramatic.”

Teammate Bella Wright said Vonn has what it takes — a strong mental state — to ski through her injuries.

“If anyone can do it, it’s Lindsey,” Wright said.

Breezy Johnson, the downhill and combined world champion, was in a similar situation to Vonn at Cortina during a World Cup weekend in 2022.

“I’ve tried and failed to ski this course with no ACL and that doesn’t mean that she can’t do it,” Johnson said. “There are more athletes that ski without ACLs and with knee damage than what we talk about.”

Andrea Panzeri, the chief physician for the Italian Winter Sports Federation, said numerous athletes have competed at elite level with a torn ACL and other severe knee issues.

Vonn’s fellow downhiller Sofia Goggia came back to win a silver medal at the 2022 Olympics weeks after spraining her left knee, partially tearing her ACL and suffering a “minor fracture” of the fibula bone in her leg — plus some tendon damage.

Italian freetsyle skier Flora Tabanelli tore the ACL in her right knee in November but put off surgery until after the Olympics.

Tabanelli is 18, though.

“But (Vonn) has experience, the physical ability and the experience on this course,” Panzeri said. “If she decides to try and race, it’s because her clinical condition and her doctors are allowing her to. She doesn’t have anything to lose. I think it’s worth a try.”

Vonn made a stunning comeback last season after nearly six years away. Skiing with a partial titanium implant in her right knee, she has been the circuit’s leading downhiller this season with two victories and three other podium finishes in five races.

Including super-G, Vonn completed eight World Cup races and finished on the podium in seven of them. Her worst finish was fourth.

Women’s skiing during the Games will be in Cortina, where Vonn holds the World Cup record with 12 wins.

She has won three Olympic medals: Gold in downhill and bronze in super-G in 2010 and bronze in downhill in 2018.

It hasn’t just been about recovery for Vonn these past few days.

On her way to Cortina, she stopped at the grave of her childhood coach Erich Sailer, who died in August aged 99.

Sailer coached Vonn at Buck Hill in Minnesota. He’s buried just outside Innsbruck, Austria.

Vonn said she shed some tears during the graveside visit – the only tears she’s shed these past few days.

“I miss him. And I know exactly what he would say to me right now. And it definitely gives me additional hope that I know that he would support me,” Vonn added.

“He would say, ‘It’s only 90 seconds. What’s 90 seconds in a lifetime? It’s nothing. You can do it.’” Vonn said. “That’s what he said to me before my last run in Are, and I know he would say it to me again today.”

Associated Press writer Jennifer McDermott contributed.

AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

United States' Lindsey Vonn smiles during a press conference by the U.S. ski team at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair)

United States' Lindsey Vonn leaves after a press conference by the U.S. ski team at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair)

United States' Lindsey Vonn attends a press conference by the U.S. ski team at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair)

United States' Lindsey Vonn smiles during a press conference by the U.S. ski team at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair)

United States' Lindsey Vonn grimaces during a press conference by the U.S. ski team at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair)

United States' Lindsey Vonn approaches the finish area after crashing, during an alpine ski, women's World Cup downhill, in Crans Montana, Switzerland, Friday, Jan. 30, 2026. (Jean-Christophe Bott/Keystone via AP)

United States' Lindsey Vonn holds her left knee after crashing, during an alpine ski, women’s World Cup downhill, in Crans Montana, Switzerland, Friday, Jan. 30, 2026. (Jean-Christophe Bott/Keystone via AP)

United States' Lindsey Vonn at the finish line after crashing, during an alpine ski, women's World Cup downhill, in Crans Montana , Switzerland, Friday, Jan. 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Giovanni Auletta)

Luka Doncic is almost certainly going to win the NBA scoring title this season. And it's now very possible that he doesn't make the All-NBA team.

That's rare, but it might be this season's reality.

The roster of award-caliber players who won't be winning awards this season continues to grow, with Doncic — the Los Angeles Lakers standout guard and MVP candidate — now out with a left hamstring injury. Minnesota guard Anthony Edwards is certain to miss the league's 65-game award eligibility threshold as well after he was held out Thursday because of illness.

Doncic has played 64 games, so he would fall just short of the mark if his hamstring issue keeps him out for the remainder of the regular season -- which has barely over a week remaining. It's worth noting that BetMGM Sportsbook, among others, took Doncic off the list of MVP betting options following his injury Thursday.

“Health is wealth. ... We'll see what happens,” Lakers star LeBron James said.

Edwards can now only reach a maximum of 64 games as well, so he won’t be on the ballot for most major NBA awards either.

It was collectively bargained — meaning the league and the players association agreed on the terms — and this is the third season of it being part of the NBA rules.

It applies to player eligibility for five awards — MVP, Defensive Player of the Year, Most Improved Player, the All-NBA Team and the All-Defensive Team. Players have to either play in 65 regular-season games (with some minutes-played minimums in there as well), or at least 62 games before suffering a “season-ending injury."

But even if Doncic's hamstring keeps him out for the rest of the regular season, it wouldn't be classified as “season-ending” unless a doctor — jointly selected by the NBA and the National Basketball Players Association — says he wouldn't be able to play again through May 31.

There is a grievance process and even a way to challenge the rule citing extraordinary circumstances, but neither would be easily utilized.

Five of the league's six highest-paid players this season — Golden State's Stephen Curry and Jimmy Butler, Philadelphia's Joel Embiid, Milwaukee's Giannis Antetokounmpo and Boston's Jayson Tatum — aren't eligible for awards. Denver's Nikola Jokic is the exception on the highest-paid list, and he'd likely be ineligible if he misses another game as well.

There were 23 players on the list of those winning MVP, MIP, DPOY, All-NBA and All-Defense last season. Of those, at least 10 are out of the running for honors this season: Antetokounmpo, Curry, Edwards, James, Tatum, Detroit's Cade Cunningham, Indiana teammates Tyrese Haliburton and Ivica Zubac, Utah's Jaren Jackson Jr. and Oklahoma City's Jalen Williams.

Another four award winners from a year ago — Jokic, Oklahoma City's Lu Dort, Golden State's Draymond Green and Cleveland's Evan Mobley — aren't at 65 games yet this season but, for now anyway, seem on pace to get there.

Never say never. The union wants changes to the policy, and it's certain to come up in their conversations with the league office. But many players — and even Andre Iguodala, now the head of the players' association — have said in recent years that the 65-game rule is a good thing.

The league doesn't seem inclined to make a change based solely on what would appear to be an extraordinary number of award candidates not hitting the threshold in one year.

“I think it is working,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said last month. “I think if you look at the numbers, the pre-implementation of this rule, numbers were going in the wrong direction. I may have this a little bit off: I think the three years before we adopted this rule, almost a third of the All-NBA players had not played 80% of the games. That was a huge issue for the league.”

As we said, it's rare, but it has happened. Twice, to be exact.

— 1968-69: Elvin Hayes won the scoring title as a rookie, then wasn't even All-NBA — and didn't win Rookie of the Year, either.

— 1975-76: Bob McAdoo won his third consecutive scoring title and was second in the MVP race — but didn't make All-NBA. Players voted for MVP in those days, and McAdoo was an extremely close second behind Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Dave Cowens was third in the MVP vote but got the second-team All-NBA nod at center, with Abdul-Jabbar the first-team pick.

Doncic could join that list. He was scheduled for an MRI on Friday to determine the extent of his hamstring injury. It's not mathematically certain yet that he wins the scoring title, but it would take something extraordinary for it not to happen.

He's averaging 33.5 points per game, with Gilgeous-Alexander at 31.6 per game. For Gilgeous-Alexander — last season's scoring champion — to overtake Doncic, he would need to go on an unbelievable run. An example: He'd need to score 292 points over the final five games to take over the top spot, and nobody other than Wilt Chamberlain has had a five-game run like that.

Of the previous 79 scoring champions, 64 were first-team All-NBA and 13 were second-team.

Jokic is going to win the league's rebounding and assist titles, while averaging a triple-double yet again. But he's also not assured yet of being on the award ballots.

The thresholds are different.

While the award mandate is 65 games in most cases, players are eligible for most statistical awards if they play in 58 games (or 70% of the season). There are different standards for some stat awards, such as field-goal percentage (minimum 300 made), free-throw percentage (minimum 125 made) and 3-point percentage (minimum 82 made).

A player can win a stat award while appearing in less than 58 games.

For example, last season, San Antonio's Victor Wembanyama played only 46 games but still won the blocked shot title. Even if he played in the minimum 58 games and recorded no blocks in the 12 games needed to reach that number he still would have been ahead of the runner-up, Utah's Walker Kessler.

AP NBA: https://www.apnews.com/hub/NBA

Los Angeles Lakers guard Luka Doncic (77) looks to make a shot-attempt in the fourth quarter of a loss to the Detroit Pistons in an NBA basketball game Monday, March 23, 2026, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Duane Burleson)

Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic warms up before an NBA basketball game against the Utah Jazz, Wednesday, April 1, 2026, in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Rob Gray)

Detroit Pistons forward Ronald Holland II (5) talks with guard Cade Cunningham (2), who did not play due to an injury, during the second half of an NBA basketball game against the Toronto Raptors Tuesday, March 31, 2026, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Duane Burleson)

Los Angeles Lakers forward/guard Luka Dončić (77) drives against Oklahoma City Thunder guard Cason Wallace (22) during the first half of an NBA basketball game Thursday, April. 2, 2026, in Oklahoma City. (AP Photo/Gerald Leong)