Vonn’s pre-Olympics crash was in a race that officials and coaches agreed was safe

CRANS-MONTANA, Switzerland (AP) — Lindsey Vonn crashed out of a World Cup downhill on Friday that was hazardous to her Olympic medal hopes though judged safe by race officials and team coaches.

Safe, it was agreed, at the place and exact time that Vonn lost control when landing a jump and spun into an awkward slide into the safety nets, injuring her left knee.

“It was probably good light in the spot where she completely missed the line and did the mistake,” World Cup race director Peter Gerdol told The Associated Press.

Gerdol spoke after the late-afternoon meeting of race and team leaders to debrief the day and detail the next morning’s schedule.

At the meeting in Crans-Montana — starting minutes after Vonn posted on social media her Olympic downhill dream next weekend was alive — a broad agreement was the race had been safe. Some objected to it being canceled at all.

About 25 minutes after Vonn crashed as the No. 6 starter, with the race still paused, Gerdol and the race jury called it off for safety reasons.

“I feel for those guys, they have a tough job,” United States head coach Paul Kristofic told the AP.

Fading light

By 10:50 a.m. on an overcast day in the Swiss Alps, the light had dimmed since the 10 a.m. start and was forecast to get worse. It did.

The race maybe seemed unsafe because three of the six starters failed to finish, and even leader Jacqueline Wiles barely made a tight final turn that caused one crash.

Still, the Austria coach said his racer Nina Ortlieb’s exit as the first starter, at the same spot as Vonn, was caused by a poor racing line, not poor light.

Roland Assinger later told the AP that racing had been much safer than two weeks ago at Tarvisio, Italy, where the women went “110 kilometers an hour through the fog where you can see nothing.”

Cursed out

Assinger’s view echoed the view of Vonn’s teammate, Breezy Johnson, who was caught swearing on a television hot mic while chatting with racers in the warmup area when the cancellation news came.

World champion Johnson recalled the “(expletive) rain in Tarvisio” and added: “Then they are like ‘This is too bad a visibility.’ Like, what the …” Johnson later apologized for her choice of words in a social media post.

Swiss TV commentator Patrice Morisod, who had chuckled on air hearing Johnson’s words live, later told the AP: “If we cancel such a race then we don’t have ski sport.”

Course review for 2027 world champs

What Gerdol and Morisod agreed on was disliking the tight turns into the finish line that sent Norwegian racer Marte Monsen into the fences and almost tricked Wiles.

“It’s not downhill,” Morisod said. “For me, that’s a big mistake for the FIS.”

Gerdol told the coaches meeting the course design will be reviewed ahead of the two-week world championships Crans-Montana will stage in one year’s time.

“In view of the championships next year we will definitely work on this,” the race director acknowledged.

Olympic downhill next weekend

The 2027 worlds seem far away when the Milan Cortina Olympics open next Friday, and the marquee women’s downhill is scheduled two days later.

Vonn faces a race to be fully fit for the Olympics she targeted in her remarkable comeback as the fastest 40-something in women’s ski race history.

She even might return on Saturday to start in a super-G on the same hill.

“The coach just said he left her on the start list,” Gerdol said, “because he thinks that it could be (possible). Some of the athletes always want to race, this is clear, it is their job.”

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AP skiing: https://apnews.com/hub/alpine-skiing and AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics