“I’m not giving up, working as hard as I can to make it happen!” That’s the message U.S. ski team veteran Lindsey Vonn shared in a short Instagram video on Thursday, giving fans a glimpse into her intense training routine. But there’s a tough reality hanging over this comeback.

In her fifth Olympic Games, the 41-year-old Vonn will be missing something most skiers consider essential – a left anterior cruciate ligament. After a crash on January 30 during a race in Crans-Montana, Switzerland, her ACL was completely ruptured, and the accident was serious enough that she had to be airlifted to a hospital. So, how is she planning to win this time in the Milano Cortina Games?

Is Lindsey Vonn wearing a knee brace in the Women’s Downhill?

After her painful and concerning injury just nine days ago, Lindsey Vonn said in her last week’s press conference that her knee actually feels “stable” and “strong,” with no swelling, and she believes she can compete in the women’s downhill on Sunday, with the help of a knee brace. She even free-skied on Feb. 3 and was able to avoid that unsettling feeling she’d had right after the crash.

And if you already didn’t know, Vonn used to regularly ski with a brace on her right knee before she retired in 2019, and in April 2024, she underwent a partial replacement of that joint. So this time, armed with a block of titanium where a mangled knee used to be, Vonn reentered the World Cup circuit eight months later. Wearing a brace will help keep her knee stable and, in theory, prevent further damage.

Athletes who’ve had previous knee injuries often wear braces in high-risk events because these devices provide extra stability to a vulnerable joint and help guide its movement, which can reduce stress on weakened ligaments and lower the chance of re-injury while competing. Braces can limit excessive motion and support the joint during powerful, high-impact actions, making them useful for individuals returning from injuries such as ACL tears or surgeries.

How has Lindsey Vonn adapted her skiing technique post-ACL tear?

Most people probably couldn’t get away with skiing on a torn ACL, but Lindsey Vonn isn’t most people. Dr. Alexis Colvin, a sports medicine surgeon at Mount Sinai Hospital who has worked at the U.S. Olympic Training Centre in Colorado Springs, told ABC News that what she’s doing simply isn’t typical. “She’s built differently than the rest of us,” Colvin said, pointing out that Vonn operates on a whole different physical level than the average athlete.

That difference shows up in how she adapts. Some elite athletes like Vonn can still perform at a high level even after an ACL tear by leaning on extraordinary muscle strength, sharp neuromuscular control, and years of sport-specific training.

In sports medicine, it’s often called “ACL coping”, a way of compensating for the missing ligament by letting the surrounding muscles and movement patterns take over the job of stabilizing the knee. And in Vonn’s case, that foundation was already there long before the injury.

Dr. Riley J. Williams, chief of sports medicine at the Hospital for Special Surgery and professor of orthopaedic surgery at Weill Cornell Medical College, told ABC News that the muscles supporting her knee, her core, hips, thighs, and glutes had been trained at the highest level for years. That kind of conditioning helps control the joint and limit unwanted motion, giving her added stability even without an intact ACL.

Fans, experts, and what to expect in her next race

As Lindsey Vonn gears up for her next race, there’s a mix of excitement, nerves, and cautious optimism surrounding her comeback. Fans are watching closely, experts are weighing in, and those closest to her believe something special could still be on the table.

At the centre of it all is her coach, Axel Lund Svindal, who has been in her corner since August 2025, helping guide her return ahead of the 2026 Winter Olympics. He’s made it clear he believes Vonn, currently leading the World Cup downhill standings with five podium finishes in five races, including two wins, has what it takes to land on the podium again.

And he’s not the only one who thinks so. Many medical experts have backed up that belief, saying a medal isn’t out of the question. Lindsey Vonn is not a normal person (or even a normal competitive athlete), which helps explain why sports medicine practitioners interviewed by Yahoo Sports said it’s still within the realm of possibility for her to race in the women’s downhill in Cortina.

“From a purely physical or biomechanical standpoint, it’s possible if you’re an elite Alpine skier like Lindsey is to perform at that Olympic level,” said Dr. Catherine Logan, an orthopaedic surgeon at the Joint Preservation Centre in Denver who also works with U.S. Ski and Snowboard.

Still, no one is pretending it’ll be easy. “This is going to be difficult, but she’s as tenacious as they come,” said Dr. Samuel Ward, a professor of orthopaedic surgery and co-director of the Wu Tsai Human Performance Alliance at UC-San Diego. He added that while last week’s crash sounded catastrophic in the headlines, there was actually an encouraging sign: she managed to ski all the way to the bottom before getting on the helicopter.

For Ward, that detail mattered. The fact that she wasn’t immobile gave her a stronger starting point than many would expect. And during her news conference Tuesday, Vonn herself added another positive note, clarifying that she wasn’t dealing with any swelling, which suggested her knee was responding better than feared.

Of course, attempting this kind of comeback isn’t without risk. Lindsey Vonn is probably putting herself in danger of further damage to her knee, especially to the meniscus or cartilage. But that’s where medicine becomes both an art and a science, with doctors laying out the best- and worst-case scenarios and ultimately working alongside her to decide how far she’s willing to push.