Olympic skier Lindsey Vonn crashed during her final run at the World Cup in Crans-Montana and suffered an injury to her left knee, putting her status for the Winter Games in question.

Vonn is still holding out hope that she will be able to participate in the 2026 Winter Olympics, which is just days away. The games begin on February 6 in Milan Cortina, Italy.

Vonn, 41, took to her Instagram to give an update, saying “My Olympic dream is not over,” just hours after being airlifted off the course.

The three-time medalist was one of three to crash during the race. Vonn lost control while trying to land a jump, becoming tangled in the safety nets. “I crashed today in the Downhill race in Switzerland and injured my left knee. I am discussing the situation with my doctors and team and will continue to undergo further exams,” Vonn wrote. The race was cancelled after Vonn’s crash.

Vonn is one of the biggest Winter Olympic stars, and this would be a ginormous blow to the entire competition if she is unable to perform in Italy. As she headed to the medical tent, Vonn showed visible anxiety and shared a long embrace with her teammate, Jacqueline Wiles.

Vonn has had a history of knee injuries and retired in 2019 before ultimately coming back. Vonn has suffered torn ACLs, MCL damage, and Tibial Plateau fractures in both knees.

With less than a week until the opening ceremonies, Vonn faces an uphill battle, but if anyone can come back and make the games, it is Vonn.

Yesterday saw the opening of the 2015 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships with the ladies’ Super G event: this race has been getting some press lately because of Lindsey Vonn — it is her first Super G World Championships race since her horrible accident in 2013, which halted her career for nearly two years.

As for the results, the race was extremely close with Vonn finishing in third with a time of 1:10.44, .15 behind the leader — it is her sixth World Championships medal and first since 2011 in Garmisch. As for the silver medalist, it was Tina Maze, who beat Vonn by .12 seconds and furthers her already amazing year. She currently sits on top of the World Cup standings 184 points ahead of the nearest athlete,  Anna Fenninger — who is coincidentally the gold medal recipient for this Super G event. Fenninger defeated Maze by a very minute .03 seconds, giving the Austrian athlete her fourth medal in this series.

Afterwards, Vonn commented on her performance, “I’m happy with the way I skied, I’m happy with the result — I just wish the weather was a little bit better… My mindset [at the start] was that I’m screwed — I definitely had a pretty strong headwind right out of the gate. I was already three-tenths out over the first 20 seconds and it’s a little bit hard to make that up.” In other words, she started slow out of the gate and was unsure if she was going to make up that time. As for the crowd and being back a Beaver Hill — a course she grew up at — “I was a little bit nervous, but I feel like I had it under control. Maybe I was a little bit stiff on the first couple of gates, but that’s nit-picking.”

As for the next event for Vonn, she has the downhill race on Friday. Hopefully, the course will see better weather, as two separate downhill training events and the men’s Super G were cancelled because of heavy winds and snowfall. And for everyone wondering if Vonn’s boyfriend showed up, Tiger Woods was there in support despite having to play in the Farmers Insurance Open in San Diego this week.

United States’ Lindsey Vonn (pictured), who just achieved her record 63^rd FIS World Cup win, is training for the 2015 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships. This biennial race — which happens every odd year to avoid being the same year as the Winter Olympics — takes place from Feb.  2 – 15 in Beaver Creek, Colo. This would be the third time this site was used for the Championship, with the last two occurring in 1989 and 1999, with the latter being the last time it was held in North America.

At the opening ceremony press conference, FIS President Gian Franco Kasper stated, “We are thrilled to be coming back to North America for the World Championships. Each edition that the Vail Valley has hosted has been bigger and better, and there is not a doubt in my mind that the next two weeks will be a fantastic celebration of Alpine ski racing both on the slopes and around the towns of Vail and Beaver Creek.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18_Cd38pjO4

There are roughly 600 athletes who will compete in eleven medal events: ten of which take place at Beaver Creek and the other Nations Team Event happens at Vail.  Vonn is one of the athletes looking to secure another gold medal, with her last two coming in 2009 at Val-d’Isère for Downhill and Super-G. And in 2015, she will compete in her first World Championship Super-G since her horrific accident in 2013, which halted her career for two years with a severe knee injury.

As for ways to watch the 2015 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships, FIS is proud to unveil that all broadcast operations will be done through the European Production Coordination (EPC): being broadcast in 27 countries, each race comes in HD with “more than 201 camera angles.” But what they are most excited about is that “for the first time at the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships live online programming will be available free-of-charge for all races through the EBU video player, which can be also found on the FIS website.”

This is certainly the FIS’ most popular event next to the Winter Olympics and it seems that its new online availability will give any person, fan or not, the ability to watch and be a part of the festivities.

In the last month, the Audi FIS Alpine Ski World Cup has taken place in various locations around the world: Italy, Sweden, Canada, and even USA. Above, an unidentified female skier trains for one of these events: the Dec. 20 downhill run in Val d’lsere, France. On the other side, the men’s portion of the downhill run has already gotten underway with American Steven Nyman winning and Norweigen Kjetil Jansrud taking second.

Now, for those who do not know the FIS is an acronym for Fédération Internationale De Ski or the International Ski Federation. The group was originally founded in 1910 and since then they have been monitoring the sport: with the first World Cup taking place in West Germany in 1967. Now, this World Cup takes place over several months, with various events across the globe: the skiers accumulate points throughout and the highest point total at the end is deemed the winner and receives the giant crystal globe trophy.

The Audi FIS Alpine Ski World Cup has had a long tradition of excellence: it is considered the premier event for this sport. If you want to read up about this competition, as well as the various events around the world visit the FIS website.