Sawt Falasteen - Vonn set for Olympic medal bid after successful downhill training

A ruptured anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee did not stop Vonn from clocking a third-best time of 1min 38.28sec in a confident run down the Olimpia delle Tofane piste, which will host the women's alpine skiing starting with the downhill final on Sunday.

After her run, Vonn swept past journalists in the mixed zone, replying "good" when asked how it went in a session which was eventually stopped due to poor weather conditions after being paused for well over an hour.

Her coach Aksel Lund Svindal and teammate Breezy Johnson, who was 0.37sec ahead of Vonn in the lead when the session was paused with 21 athletes having completed their run, said that their hearts stopped when Vonn's knee nearly buckled on an early jump.

"I think everyone gasped a little bit, you know that's how it goes," said Johnson, who tried and failed to race the same piste with a torn ACL in 2022.

"I'm glad she's down safe."

The 41-year-old Vonn -- Olympic downhill champion in 2010 -- would have been among those tipped for gold in her favoured discipline had she not suffered the serious injury a week before the official start of the 2026 Winter Games.

Vonn's presence at these Olympics was already a huge achievement before her injury as she roared back from retirement in November 2024 to re-establish herself as the premier woman downhill skier despite being in her early 40s.

For context, Vonn is the oldest woman to win an Olympic medal in her sport, a record she established with bronze in the downhill in Pyeongchang eight years ago.

- 'Push harder' -

Her rivals and Svindal, himself a two-time Olympic gold winner, have lauded Vonn's iron will which is allowing her to not just compete but aim for a fourth medal at the Winter Games with an injury that would have ruled out most athletes.

"She knows that she'll have to push harder tomorrow because the rest of the girls will and it's the Olympic downhill, you're not going to get away with a medal here unless you push hard and I think she's ready for it," said Svindal.

A brace is helping to stabilise Vonn's left knee which also suffered bone bruising -- she claimed the meniscus damage could have already been there -- during a heavy crash in the last World Cup downhill race in Switzerland before the world's top women alpine skiers decamped to Cortina.

"That's obviously not an advantage," said Svindal of the brace.

"We're not focusing on that because if she starts to ask to take the brace away, I think there's a couple of doctors that would like, have something to say about that."

Local favourite Sofia Goggia, who won gold and silver in the downhill at the last two Olympics, had a bumpy run but managed to recover.

Goggia would have had a late night as she lit the cauldron in the opening ceremony in Cortina on Friday, one of two that will burn throughout these Games.

Germany's rising star Emma Aicher, who at 22 years old has blossomed into a leading medal contender at these Games, timed 1:38.75.

This time last year all-rounder Aicher had never claimed a World Cup podium, but she has since taken eight in three disciplines -- downhill, super-G and slalom.

Giant slalom world champion Federica Brignone, on the comeback trail after a double leg break in April, told reporters she had yet to decide whether she would compete on Sunday after finishing nearly a second behind Johnson.

Z.AlNajjar--SF-PST