2026 Olympic Games: Lindsey Vonn injured in women’s downhill crash in Cortina d’Ampezzo

Maltais wins 3,000m velocity skating bronzy for Canada's 1st medal at Milano Cortina 2026

Maltais reflects on earning her 1st single(a) Olympic speed skating medal

Canada drops 3rd straight mixed doubles curling match falling to Estonia

Jack Crawford finishes 9th for Canada's top result in men's Olympic downhill 

Canada's Gallant, Peterman fall to Great Britain for 2nd straight loss in Olympic mixed doubles curling

Italy wins its 1st medals at Milano Cortina 2026 as Franzoni and Paris ski to silver and bronze

Lindsey Vonn finishes 3rd in final Olympic downhill training run

Ilia Malinin's 2nd place finish keeps Americans 1st overall in figure skating team event

The American, one of the most-decorated alpine skiers of all time, fell within the first few seconds of her run. Her skis didn’t pop off because of how high the dins on her bindings were set to withstand the G-force while skiing. 

The finish line fell completely silent when Vonn crashed. The race is now on hold. In the broadcast, you can hear Vonn moaning in pain as she receives medical attention on the side of the slope.

Vonn, 41, completely tore her ACL, damaging her meniscus and suffering a bone bruise in her right knee just over a week ago. She looked promising in training, posting the third fastest time in the final training run.

The women’s downhill at the Milano-Cortina Games is raced on the iconic Olimpia delle Tofane course, one of the fastest and most demanding tracks in the world. 

Running about 2,560 metres with a vertical drop of roughly 750 metres, steep pitches, blind rolls and long gliding sections. It rewards fearlessness, clean technique and nerve. 

The course is a fixture on the women’s World Cup circuit — famous for its high speeds, dramatic jumps, sweeping turns and compression rolls.

But the Tofane Schuss, the spectacular pitch nestled between two rocks, is the picturesque feature of Cortina. 

The course is expected to deliver one of the most electric atmospheres of the Games.

For Italy’s Sofia Goggia — Olympic downhill gold medallist in 2018 and four-times World Cup winner in Cortina — the slope carries emotional resonance alongside sporting prestige.

Describing Olimpia as "the course of my heart — intense and free," she said victories on home snow feel uniquely charged, according to Reuters. 

Alberto Tomba, one of Italy’s most successful alpine skiers, is at the finish line in Cortina.

Tomba, nicknamed "La Bomba," was a larger-than-life character in his heyday, and quite the smooth operator. At the 1988 Calgary Olympics he caused a sensation by publicly wooing glamorous East German figure-skating star Katarina Witt. 

On TV, Tomba offered Witt one of his gold medals in exchange for a date. If memory serves, she declined. But the story of a potential cross-border, east-meets-west, gold-medallist romance dominated headlines for days.

Tomba won giant slalom and slalom gold at Calgary, while Witt won the women’s figure skating title, just ahead of Canada’s Liz Manley.

Tomba lit the cauldron at Milan's Arco della Pace near San Siro stadium during the opening ceremony on Friday.

The first seven racers have gone. We’re waiting to watch Vonn and Goggia, who are No. 13 and 15, out of 36 racers. Snoop Dogg is at the finish line, sitting with Vonn’s dad.

Other skiers to watch include downhill world champion Breezy Johnson (starting No. 6) of the U.S. And Italians Sofia Goggia (starting No. 15) and Federica Brignone (starting No. 3). 

Goggia won Olympic downhill gold in 2018, while Brignone, the reigning World Cup downhill and overall champion, recently returned from a broken leg suffered at the Italian championships last April.

Valérie Grenier (starting No. 21) is the top Canadian. Her best shot at the podium will come in the giant slalom. But the 29-year-old's lone World Cup downhill medal (a bronze) came at Cortina in 2024. 

Her teammate, Cassidy Gray (starting No. 32), who is 25, has not won a medal in her four seasons on the World Cup tour.

American star Lindsay completed her second successful training run Saturday in Cortina d'Ampezzo and appears ready to race just a little more than a week after tearing her ACL when she crashed during her final competition before the Olympics.

Skiing with a brace on her injured left knee, the 41-year-old clocked the third-fastest time in the final training session. More than half the field did not participate, though, including Canadians Val Grenier and Cassidy Gray.

Vonn, who won Olympic downhill gold at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Games, owned the all-time record for women's alpine World Cup wins when she retired from the sport in 2019 — her body cooked from countless injuries over the years. 

But equipped with a new titanium-infused right knee, she returned in 2024 and this season re-established herself as a top contender for Olympic gold in Cortina. The same course where she's won a record 12 World Cup races.

Before her crash in Crans-Montana, Switzerland, on Jan. 30, Vonn had reached the podium in seven of her eight starts this season, including a pair of downhill victories to become the oldest skier ever to win an alpine World Cup race.

She’s wearing bib No. 13 in the start list today.

I'm Verity Stevenson — a writer in Montreal. Welcome to Day 2 of the 2026 Milano-Cortina Winter Games. Events are already underway in Italy, with an early start for women's singles luge training in Cortina d'Ampezzo and the women's snowboard parallel giant slalom qualifications in Livigno.

But first, what a day yesterday. We saw Team Canada win its first medal with Quebec's Valérie Maltais taking bronze in the 3,000-metre long-track speed skate. Then, the Canadian women's hockey team clinched a resounding 4-0 opening win against Switzerland in the evening. 

Here's what you can expect from today’s competitions:

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