Lindsey Vonn’s coach and New England Patriots wide receiver Stefon Diggs are confident that the American skiing great can compete at the Milano Cortina Olympics with a ruptured ACL in her left knee.
Vonn, 41, is set to try her luck in the women’s downhill race on Sunday
“I’m pretty confident that she can still pull off this dream,” Vonn’s head coach Chris Knight told The Associated Press on Wednesday. “I’ve got no doubts in my mind that this is going to be OK.”
Knight’s comments came one day after Vonn said that she’s not interested in discussing surgery at the moment.
“It’s not really on my radar screen right now. The Olympics are the only thing that I’m thinking about,” she said. “Every day my knee’s gotten better. And every day we’re discussing with a full medical team, doctors, physios, everyone, to make sure we’re doing everything to make sure I am making smart and safe decisions.”
Diggs knows a thing or two about a torn ACL. His lone season with the Houston Texans in 2024 was cut short by the same injury.
“Prayers to her. I hope the surgery does go well when she does have it,” Diggs said Wednesday of Vonn. “Anybody who has torn an ACL, it’s kind of a weird injury. You can run after about two weeks when the swelling goes down. … As long as she doesn’t have to (decelerate), she should be fine.”
Like Vonn, Diggs has a big day ahead on Sunday. Diggs and the Patriots will face the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl LX in Santa Clara, Calif.
As for Vonn, she must complete at least one official training run to take part in the Sunday downhill. Vonn is no stranger to the mountain. She collected 12 of her 84 World Cup victories there, the most of any skier.
Vonn earned gold (downhill) and bronze (Super-G) medals at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics and a bronze medal in the downhill at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games.
Vonn retired after the 2019 world championships due to injuries. She subsequently received a partial replacement of her right knee and launched a comeback late in 2024 with the Olympics in her sights.
She has won the downhill twice this winter and leads the World Cup standings in the discipline and was considered a favorite to win the gold medal in the event in Italy.
–Field Level Media
