Lindsey Vonn’s father tells AP her Olympic crash marks ‘the end of her career’ if he has any say

Lindsey Vonn’s father tells AP her Olympic crash marks ‘the end of her career’ if he has any say 1 of 7 | U.S. skier Lindsey Vonn’s defiant bid to win the Winter Olympic downhill on a rebuilt right knee and a badly injured left knee, ended in a crash that left her with a broken leg. Associated Press photojournalist Jacquelyn Martin describes what she saw. 2 of 7 | Lindsey Vonn’s defiant bid to win the Winter Olympic downhill at the age of 41, on a rebuilt right knee and a badly injured left knee, ended Sunday in a frightening crash that left her with a broken leg and saw her taken to safety by a rescue helicopter for the second time in nine days. 3 of 7 | United States’ Lindsey Vonn poses with her career medals with her father Alan Kildow, in the finish area after the women’s downhill race, at the alpine ski World Championships in Are, Sweden, Sunday, Feb. 10, 2019. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati, File) 4 of 7 | United States’ Lindsey Vonn crashes during an alpine ski women’s downhill race, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) 5 of 7 | In this image taken from video provided by Olympic Broadcasting Services, OBS, United States’ Lindsey Vonn crashes during an alpine ski women’s downhill race, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (Olympic Broadcasting Services via AP) 6 of 7 | United States’ Lindsey Vonn, right, poses for photographs with her father Alan Kildow at the end of an alpine ski, women’s World Cup downhill race, in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, Friday, Jan. 16, 2015. (AP Photo/Andrew Dampf, File) 7 of 7 | United States’ Lindsey Vonn’s father Alan Kildow is interviewed ahead of an alpine ski women’s downhill race, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Dampf) 1 of 7 U.S. skier Lindsey Vonn’s defiant bid to win the Winter Olympic downhill on a rebuilt right knee and a badly injured left knee, ended in a crash that left her with a broken leg. Associated Press photojournalist Jacquelyn Martin describes what she saw. Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. 2 of 7 Lindsey Vonn’s defiant bid to win the Winter Olympic downhill at the age of 41, on a rebuilt right knee and a badly injured left knee, ended Sunday in a frightening crash that left her with a broken leg and saw her taken to safety by a rescue helicopter for the second time in nine days. Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. 3 of 7 United States’ Lindsey Vonn poses with her career medals with her father Alan Kildow, in the finish area after the women’s downhill race, at the alpine ski World Championships in Are, Sweden, Sunday, Feb. 10, 2019. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati, File) Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. 4 of 7 United States’ Lindsey Vonn crashes during an alpine ski women’s downhill race, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. 5 of 7 In this image taken from video provided by Olympic Broadcasting Services, OBS, United States’ Lindsey Vonn crashes during an alpine ski women’s downhill race, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (Olympic Broadcasting Services via AP) Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. 6 of 7 United States’ Lindsey Vonn, right, poses for photographs with her father Alan Kildow at the end of an alpine ski, women’s World Cup downhill race, in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, Friday, Jan. 16, 2015. (AP Photo/Andrew Dampf, File) Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. 7 of 7 United States’ Lindsey Vonn’s father Alan Kildow is interviewed ahead of an alpine ski women’s downhill race, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Dampf) Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Updated [hour]:[minute] [AMPM] [timezone], [monthFull] [day], [year] CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy (AP) — Lindsey Vonn’s father said Monday that the American superstar will no longer race if he has any influence over her decision and that she will not return to the Winter Olympics after breaking her leg in the downhill over the weekend.“She’s 41 years old and this is the end of her career,” Alan Kildow said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. “There will be no more ski races for Lindsey Vonn, as long as I have anything to say about it.”Kildow and the rest of Vonn’s family — a brother and two sisters, too — have been with Vonn while she is being treated at a hospital in Treviso following her fall and helicopter evacuation from the course in Cortina on Sunday.The hospital late Sunday released a statement saying Vonn had undergone surgery on her left leg and the U.S. Ski Team said she was in stable condition. There have not been other updates since. Kildow declined to comment on details of Vonn’s injuries, but he did address how she was doing emotionally.“She’s a very strong individual,” Kildow said. “She knows physical pain and she understands the circumstances that she finds herself in. And she’s able to handle it. Better than I expected. She’s a very, very strong person. And so I think she’s handling it real well.” Kildow — a former ski racer himself who taught his daughter to race — said he slept in his daughter’s hospital room overnight. “She has somebody with her — or multiple people with her — at all times,” Kildow said. “We’ll have people here as long as she’s here.”Kildow and the rest of Vonn’s family watched the crash from the finish area with all of the other spectators.“First, the shock and the horror of the whole thing, seeing a crash like that,” Kildow said of what he felt watching the scene unfold. “It can be dramatic and traumatic. You’re just horrified at what those kinds of impacts have. “You can go into a shock an emotional psychological shock,” he added. “Because it’s difficult to just accept what’s happened. But she’s well cared for. … And the USOC and the U.S. Ski team have a very, very top-notch doctor with her and she is being very well cared for here in Italy.”Vonn raced the downhill despite tearing the ACL in her left knee nine days earlier in another crash.“What happened to her had nothing to do with the ACL issue on her left leg. Nothing,” Kildow said. “She had demonstrated that she was able to function at a very high level with the two downhill training runs. … And she had been cleared by high level physicians to ski.”Kildow said the crash was less a result of Vonn’s knee injury than the way she pushed the limits of her racing line to the point where she clipped a gate early in her run and got knocked out of control.“There are times sometimes in any race, but especially in downhill, where you have to take a little speed off,” he said. “You can give yourself a little bit more leeway on the line so you don’t put yourself in a questionable position.”Vonn, who holds the record of 12 World Cup victories in Cortina, returned to the circuit last season after nearly six years of retirement and after a partial titanium replacement surgery in her right knee. She won two downhills and finished on the podium in seven of the eight World Cup races that she finished this season — and came fourth in the other one. “She won 84 World Cup races. And not many people do that,” Kildow said, referring to Vonn’s victory total, which place her second on the all-time women’s list behind teammate Mikaela Shiffrin’s record 108 wins.“And there’s a hell of a lot of the difference between a speed race, a downhill especially, and a slalom,” Kildow added.Vonn will not return to the Olympics to cheer on teammates or for anything else, Kildow said.“No, she’s not that in kind of situation,” he said. “She will be going home at an appropriate point in time.” Dampf has been a Rome-based sports writer at The AP for over 20 years, covering soccer, tennis, Alpine skiing and many other events in Italy and beyond, including five soccer World Cups. The Milan-Cortina Games will mark the 10th Olympics that he has reported from.