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Lindsey Vonn’s dad said Monday he hopes the horrific crash that landed the Olympic legend in the hospital at the 2026 Milan Cortina Games will mark “the end of her career.”
Alan Kildow told The Associated Press he wasn’t sure whether he actually has any say in the matter. Vonn broke her leg during the final run of the alpine ski women’s downhill event. She crashed in the first sector and needed to be airlifted off the mountain.
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United States’ Lindsey Vonn poses with her career medals with her father Alan Kildow, in the finish area after the women’s downhill race, at the alpine ski World Championships in Are, Sweden, Sunday, Feb. 10, 2019. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati, File)
“She’s 41 years old and this is the end of her career,” he told The Associated Press. “There will be no more ski races for Lindsey Vonn, as long as I have anything to say about it.”
Kildow didn’t divulge any details about the injuries but mentioned her emotional state.
“She’s a very strong individual,” Kildow said. “She knows physical pain and she understands the circumstances that she finds herself in. And she’s able to handle it. Better than I expected. She’s a very, very strong person. And so I think she’s handling it real well.”
Vonn’s family was on hand to watch her try to pull off a miracle – win an Olympic medal in one of the fastest sports the Games has to offer all while dealing with a ruptured ACL.
United States’ Lindsey Vonn’s father Alan Kildow is interviewed ahead of an alpine ski women’s downhill race, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Dampf)
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But the hopeful nature of the day quickly turned to somber feelings.
“First, the shock and the horror of the whole thing, seeing a crash like that,” Kildow said of what he felt watching the scene unfold. “It can be dramatic and traumatic. You’re just horrified at what those kinds of impacts have.
“You can go into a shock an emotional psychological shock,” he added. “Because it’s difficult to just accept what’s happened. But she’s well cared for. … And the USOC and the U.S. Ski team have a very, very top-notch doctor with her and she is being very well cared for here in Italy.”
Kildow put the cause of the crash more on Vonn trying to push herself to the edge than the ACL.
Vonn is recovering in a hospital in Treviso. She holds the record of 12 World Cup victories in Cortina, Italy, and didn’t seem like she missed a beat when she returned to the circuit last year following a six-year absence.
United States’ Lindsey Vonn is airlifted away after a crash during an alpine ski women’s downhill race, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
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The next stop for Vonn will be home, according to Kildow. She will not be back at any Olympic events to cheer on her teammates.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.