It was a terrifying sight: legendary Olympian Lindsey Vonn crashing during the women’s downhill run. And crashing along with her? The storybook ending to her Winter Olympics comeback. Vonn initially retired from skiing in 2019. She announced her comeback to the sport in 2024. Her appear ance at the Milan Cortina Games comes 24 years after she made her Olympic debut at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games and 16 years after winning her last gold medal in Vancouver. But, while hopes and dreams were high, it reality it was already a slippery slope for Vonn healthwise. Afterall, she decided to push ahead in pursuing another medal just over a week after she teared her ACL. On Sunday, when it was her turn to compete, Vonn barely made it a few seconds before crashing following a jump and screaming in pain. The medical team came running to her as the competition paused and she was eventually airlifted to a hospital. The U.S. Ski Snowboard Team shared an update on Vonn’s health several hours after the crash. “Update: Lindsey Vonn sustained an injury, but is in stable condition and in good hands with a team of American and Italian physicians,” the update on X read. Although official word isn’t out yet explaining what exactly happened, people assume that her ACL injury probably played a role –whether directly or indirectly — in her crash. But, what exactly is a torn ACL and how can it impact an athlete? Here’s what you should know. What’s an ACL? The ACL is the anterior cruciate ligament, which helps connect your femur (which essentially is your thigh bone), to your tibia (or your shinbone). According to the Mayo Clinic, it is one of the strongest band of tissues in the human body. What’s an ACL injury? An ACL injury, one of the most common injuries among athletes, can involve a tear or a sprain. These injuries generally happen in sports that have sudden stops or changes in direction, jumping or landing…like alpine skiing, in Vonn’s case. How can you get an ACL injury? As mentioned before, this injury is very common among athletes, especially in sports that have sudden stops, direction changes, jumping, landing and direct contact. Some ways to sustain an injury to the ACL are: slowing down and changing direction all of a sudden pivoting with a firmly planted foot landing awkwardly from a jump a sudden stop receiving a direct blow to the knee Signs of an ACL injury There are a few common signs that may appear when there is an ACL injury. Many people hear a pop or experience a “popping” feeling in the knee when an ACL injury occurs, according to the Mayo Clinic. If there is trauma to the ACL, your knee may: swell feel unstable become to painful to put weight on it and you may experience loss of range of motion How do you treat an ACL injury? How an ACL injury is treated depends on its severity. However, treatment may include rest and rehabilitation exercises to help regain strength and stability, or if warranted surgery may need to take place in order to replace the torn ligament. Surgery would then be followed by rehabilitation. According to the Mayo Clinic, adhering to a specific training program may also help reduce the risk of an ACL injury. Was Vonn’s crash Sunday because of her torn ACL? This is still unknown since there has been no official word on what exactly happened on the downhill run just yet. However, because trauma to the ACL can result in feeling unstable or feeling pain in the knee, there is a high probability that Vonn’s injury played a significant role in her crash. ...read more read less