Coach: Lindsey Vonn has no workout pain, confident she'll race - ESPN

CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy — Lindsey Vonn needed to use a crutch to get around over the weekend. Now she is performing box jumps, working out in a pool while wearing a weighted vest and skiing at high speed.

No wonder the 41-year-old American is so optimistic that she can compete in the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics downhill Sunday despite a ruptured ACL in her left knee.

«I'm pretty confident that she can still pull off this dream,» Vonn's head coach Chris Knight told The Associated Press on Wednesday. «I've got no doubts in my mind that this is going to be OK.»

Vonn's team of two physical therapists, Lindsay Winninger and Andi Mitterfellner, and fitness trainer Peter Meliessnig have been working overtime with her.

«She's been doing box jumps. She's trying everything out, loads and stresses and things like that to just see where she's at and see how she feels, and she's pulled up great from everything,» Knight said. «No swelling, no pain.»

Vonn said Tuesday that surgery «hasn't been discussed.»

«It's not really on my radar screen right now. The Olympics are the only thing that I'm thinking about,» she said. «Every day my knee's gotten better. And every day we're discussing with a full medical team, doctors, physios, everyone, to make sure we're doing everything to make sure I am making smart and safe decisions.»

Vonn had a partial titanium replacement inserted into her right knee in 2024 and returned to ski racing last season after nearly six years of retirement.

Now, along with the ruptured ACL, she has bone bruising and meniscal damage in her left knee, though her doctors are not sure if the meniscal issue is a result of her latest injury or from her long series of mishaps earlier in her career.

«She's not 20 years old;