Lindsey Vonn said Monday that she’ll need multiple surgeries for the broken leg she suffered in her devastating crash at the Winter Olympics, but said the accident had “nothing to do” with her deciding to ski with a torn ACL.
“I was simply 5 inches too tight on my line when my right arm hooked inside of the gate, twisting me and resulted in my crash,” she said on Instagram in her first statement since the crash. “My ACL and past injuries had nothing to do with my crash whatsoever.”
“While yesterday did not end the way I had hoped, and despite the intense physical pain it caused, I have no regrets.”
Her father said he believes that’s the last time we’ll see the Olympic champion race.
“She’s 41 years old and this is the end of her career,” Alan Kildow told The Associated Press. Kildow said his daughter is still in the hospital and is recovering as well as can be expected.
“She’s a very, very strong person. And so I think she’s handling it real well.”
Meanwhile, in Milan, we also saw plenty of action in freestyle skiing, women’s hockey and more.
Here’s what went down on a busy day at the Games. Catch it all streaming on Peacock.
Live from Milan Cortina
Team USA’s Evan Bates and Madison Chock secured second place with a score of 89.72 following a rousing rock medley ahead of Wednesday’s free dance. France’s Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron remain in first place with a score of 90.18.
The rhythm dance event does not result in a medal but the top 20 teams will advance into Wednesday’s free dance event.
Earlier in the night, Erin Jackson competed in the 1,000-meter speedskating event with a time of 1:15.00. She finished in sixth, and her teammate and childhood friend Brittany Bowe was one spot off the podium in fourth. Two skaters from the Netherlands, Jutta Leerdam and Femke Kok took the top two spots. Jackson is still set to defend her 2022 gold medal in the 500-meter on Feb. 16.
In mixed doubles curling, U.S. team Cory Thiesse and Korey Dropkin defeated Italy in dramatic fashion on the final stone. With the U.S. trailing, Thiesse stuck the final shot for a 7-6 victory that sends the U.S. to the gold medal match tomorrow against Sweden.
Athlete Interview
To the extent that American audiences knew of Jutta Leerdam before today, it was likely in the context of her engagement to Jake Paul, the boxer and influencer. That off-ice notoriety had added “a lot of pressure,” Leerdam said. “A lot of people not always wishing me the best. … I’m so just 100% focused on skating, even though sometimes people may be confused because of online. But this is what I’ve been working hard for my whole life.”
She was referencing a newly earned gold medal dangling from a ribbon around her neck that she would not let out of her grasp. Leerdam won it the “hard way” — breaking an Olympic record that had been set only minutes earlier by a Netherlands teammate, Femke Kok, all while skating in the 15th and final pair of the competition.
Leerdam immediately tore off the aerodynamic hood and glasses from her orange speedsuit and began crying, her eyeliner running down her cheeks.
Watching hockey alongside Vice President JD Vance two days earlier, Paul appeared as casual as could be. But watching his fiancée win Olympic gold?
He “can’t stop crying,” Leerdam said.
Leerdam wanted to savor her victory. Some athletes hurry through interview zones, but she paused to deliver dozens of interviews in Dutch, English and German.
“The best day of my life, I think,” she said.
Photo of the Day
When to watch
On Tuesday, we’ll see Mikaela Shiffrin for the first time at these Games in the women’s team combined slalom. Other highlights include USA vs. Canada in women’s hockey and a potential gold medal for Team USA in curling mixed doubles. All times are in Eastern and an asterisk means its a medal event:
Tuesday, Feb. 10
- 3:10 a.m.: cross-country skiing, women’s sprint-classic qualification
- 3:55 a.m.: cross-country skiing, men’s sprint-classic qualification
- 4:30 a.m.: Alpine skiing, women’s team combined downhill
- 4:30 a.m.: speedskating, women’s 500-meter heats
- 5:10 a.m.: speedskating, men’s 1,000-meter heats
- 5:15 a.m.: freestyle skiing, men’s moguls qualification
- 5:45 a.m.: cross-country skiing, women’s sprint-classic quarterfinals
- 5:59 a.m.: speedskating, mixed team relay quarterfinals
- 6:10 a.m.: women’s hockey, Japan vs. Sweden
- 6:15 a.m.: cross-country skiing, men’s sprint-classic quarterfinals
- 6:30 a.m.: freestyle skiing, men’s freeski slopestyle finals*
- 6:34 a.m.: speedskating, mixed team relay semifinals
- 6:45 a.m.: cross-country skiing, women’s sprint-classic semifinals
- 6:57 a.m.: cross-country skiing, men’s sprint-classic semifinals
- 7:03 a.m.: speedskating, mixed team relay finals*
- 7:13 a.m.: cross-country skiing, women’s sprint-classic finals*
- 7:25 a.m.: cross-country skiing, men’s sprint-classic finals*
- 7:30 a.m.: biathlon, men’s 20K individual
- 8 a.m.: Alpine skiing, women’s team combined slalom*
- 8:05 a.m.: curling, mixed doubles bronze medal game*
- 8:15 a.m.: freestyle skiing, women’s moguls qualifications
- 10:40 a.m.: women’s hockey, Italy vs. Germany
- 11 a.m.: luge, women’s singles run 3
- 12:05 p.m.: curling, mixed doubles gold medal game*
- 12:30 p.m.: figure skating, men’s single skate, short program
- 12:34 p.m.: luge, women’s singles run 4*
- 12:45 p.m.: ski jumping, mixed team first round
- 2 p.m.: ski jumping, mixed team final round*
- 2:10 p.m.: women’s hockey, USA vs. Canada
- 3:10 p.m.: women’s hockey, Finland vs. Switzerland