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Lindsey Vonn’s father said Monday he hopes the horrific accident that sent the Olympic legend to hospital during the 2026 Milan Cortina Games will mark “the end of his career.”
Alan Kildow told the Associated Press he wasn’t sure he had much say in the matter. Vonn broke her leg during the final run of the women’s downhill event in alpine skiing. She crashed in the first sector and had to be airlifted from the mountain.
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Lindsey Vonn of the United States poses with her career medals with her father Alan Kildow, in the finish area after the women’s downhill race, at the Alpine Skiing World Championships in Are, Sweden, Sunday, February 10, 2019. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati, file)
“She’s 41 and it’s 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 did not release any details about the injuries but mentioned his emotional state.
“She’s a very strong person,” Kildow said. “She knows physical pain and understands the circumstances that she’s in. And she’s able to handle it. Better than I expected. She’s a very, very strong person. And so I think she handles it very well.”
Vonn’s family was on hand to watch her attempt a miracle: winning an Olympic medal in one of the fastest sports the Games have to offer, while dealing with a torn ACL.
Alan Kildow, the father of Lindsey Vonn of the United States, is interviewed before a women’s alpine ski race at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, Sunday, February 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Dampf)
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But the hopeful nature of the day quickly turned to dark feelings.
“First of all, the shock and horror of it all, seeing an accident like that,” Kildow said of what he felt watching the scene unfold. “It can be dramatic and traumatic. You’re just horrified by those kinds of impacts.
“You can suffer a shock, an emotional psychological shock,” he added. “Because it’s hard to accept what happened. But she’s well taken care of. … And the USOC and the U.S. Ski Team have a very, very excellent doctor with her and she’s very well taken care of here in Italy.”
Kildow attributed the cause of the accident more to Vonn trying to push herself than to 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 appear to have missed a beat when she returned to the circuit last year after a six-year absence.
Lindsey Vonn of the United States is airlifted after an accident during a women’s alpine ski race at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
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Vonn’s next stop will be home, according to Kildow. She will not return to any Olympic events to encourage her teammates.
