The 2026 Winter Olympics continued on Sunday, February 8, in Milan, Italy, and the day brought a high-profile event for alpine skier Lindsey Vonn. Before the start of the Games, Vonn, who’s already an Olympic gold medalist, had to make a decision about whether to compete in the games after tearing her ACL a week before the opening ceremony.
Vonn decided that this was her chance to shine, and she continued on with her plan to compete in the 2026 Winter Games. At first, things seemed to be going well, and Vonn successfully went through her first training run on Friday, February 6, despite her ruptured ACL. She made her way down the course seemingly effortlessly, and then, she also skied through her 100-second run without problems.
But, that wasn’t the case on Sunday. Instead, Vonn suffered another scary crash and had to be air lifted to a hospital to get immediate medical attention.
“Vonn lost control within moments of leaving the start house, clipping a gate with her right shoulder and pinwheeling down the slope before ending up awkwardly on her back, her skis crisscrossed below her and her screams ringing out soon after medical personnel arrived,” NBC Right Now reported. They added, “She was treated for long, anguished minutes as a hush fell over the crowd waiting far below at the finish line.”
Olympics Broadcast Gets Comments After Lindsey Vonn Decision
Live on the broadcast, Vonn appeared to scream in pain, and viewers watching from home caught it all. Now, people are questioning whether the footage of Vonn should have been broadcast.
“She’ll be OK, but it’s going to be a bit of a process,” Anouk Patty, chief of sport for U.S. Ski and Snowboard, said in a statement. “This sport’s brutal and people need to remember when they’re watching [that] these athletes are throwing themselves down a mountain and going really, really fast.”
Some viewers took to social media to say that they didn’t think the broadcast should have aired the footage. Others just commented on how rough the injury looked.
Lindsey Vonn’s Injury Was ‘Hard to Watch’
“Oh jeez, Lindsey Vonn suffered a major wipeout very early in the run. Hard to watch. Crowd totally silent on TV while they go attend to her,” Mitch Goldish of SI stated on X. “You could hear Vonn screaming in pain on the mountain for a while during the delay here. Tough to watch.”
“Whoever is choosing the images to show at Winter Olympics should hang their head in shame. Playing Vonn’s horrific crash on repeat, allowing us to hear her sob in pain is unforgivable,” one said.
Others, though, defended the network’s decision. “Thrill of victory, agony of defeat … Is NBC supposed to ignore failures?” one said. “Sheesh. I guess you have never participated in a sport where there’s a chance of injury, huh?” another said, adding that they thought using the words “horrific” and “on repeat” and “unforgivable” here “hyperbolic.”
It’s a difficult decision to make in the moment, and there are voices on both sides of this debate. But, nearly everyone can agree that they want to see Vonn healthy again soon.
Olympics Decision on Lindsey Vonn Sparks Debate