Mikaela Shiffrin, the all-time winningest alpine skier, isn’t hiding her excitement—or her unwavering belief—in teammate Lindsey Vonn’s extraordinary Olympic moment.
The 30-year-old double Olympic champion made it crystal clear: she’s fully tuned in and ready to witness potential history unfold as Vonn, at 41, prepares to tackle the women’s downhill despite a completely ruptured ACL in her left knee, suffered just over a week ago in a crash at Crans-Montana.
“I am so excited to watch—I think we all are—her tenacity and grit, and what she’s showing up with this Olympics, staying true to her own values. That’s straight-up beautiful,” Shiffrin told reporters at a media event in Cortina on Saturday. She added with conviction, “I have a lot of belief… She’s done such incredible things despite injury, through injury, before. I have a lot of belief.”
Shiffrin, who plans to spend her recovery day glued to the action, praised Vonn’s resilience amid the brutal challenge of racing on an injured knee—compounded by Vonn’s existing titanium partial knee replacement in her right leg from 2024. “If anyone can do it, she can,” Shiffrin emphasized, echoing the sentiment rippling through Team USA and the global skiing community.
Vonn, the legendary three-time Olympic medalist and former downhill queen, has already defied expectations by completing strong training runs on the demanding Olympia delle Tofane course, bracing up and pushing through pain to line up for Sunday’s race. Her comeback—unretiring after 2019, dominating early World Cup events this season, and now battling bilateral knee issues—has captivated fans worldwide.
Shiffrin, who recently surpassed Vonn’s once-unbreakable World Cup win record, sees this as more than just a race: it’s inspiration personified. “Anything is possible,” she declared, capturing the absolute faith that anything can happen when grit meets the slopes.
As the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics deliver one of its most dramatic storylines, all eyes—and cheers—from Shiffrin and beyond will be on Vonn. Team USA’s downhill showdown could etch another chapter in alpine legend.
