Lindsey Vonn’s recent crash during the Olympic downhill event has resulted in a significant surge in search interest, reaching over 1 million searches. The incident was a dramatic highlight of the Winter Olympics, particularly as it coincided with Breezy Johnson winning the US’s first gold medal and Americans performing well in team figure skating. The combination of these events captured widespread attention, leading to increased curiosity about Vonn’s condition and the implications of her accident.
Reports confirm that Vonn was airlifted following her crash, which added urgency to the search interest as fans and observers sought real-time updates on her status. According to news from AP, she sustained a leg injury and has been reported to be in stable condition at the hospital. This alarming news about a high-profile athlete in a critical competition further fueled the spike in searches as people looked for more information.
The weight of Vonn’s status as a notable sports figure and her unexpected injury during a major event contributed significantly to the heightened search activity. The nature of the incident—happening in a global spotlight—drove many to seek updates and developments surrounding both her health and the ongoing Olympic competitions. As a result, interest in the topic increased rapidly following these reports.
Watch the Moment
Internet Reacts
M
“Let’s hope she’s back for the Super G,” says the commentator as Vonn is airlifted off the mountain. Is he out of his mind?!
Q
They’d already said this would be her only event because of her ACL. So I don’t even think he was correct before the crash lol
M
He has one job…
A
To be fair, his job is to talk without stopping from the beginning to the end of the broadcast. Not sure why broadcasters think an endless stream of commentary is desired, but it’s NBC, so….
S
Because people don’t like dead air. Go watch any esports stream, they’ve got real time feedback from their audience, they know what people want, and they make sure to have that back and forth with the play-by-play handing off to the color commentator in order to ensure that there isn’t any dead air. Even when it’s a solocast that person is basically talking non-stop and they’re not doing it because it’s fun or easy, it’s absolutely grueling.
A
I love dead air. Everyone shut up and let me watch the thing.
S
I like dead air basketball when you just hear a bunch of sneakers squeaking on the floor
G
Hard agree, especially during the figure skating finals. I don’t need you to tell me the skater landed that jump, my eyes saw that all on their own. Just let me get lost in the moment.
D
Theres a whole team behind this messing up
F
Poor lady is gonna be lucky to be back on her feet :/
E
Doesn’t she have 2 artifical knees, i think at this point just leave it be
B
Just the right knees is artificial. Titanium. Left is natural, albeit with a ruptured ACL. Was no give or power left in it for the hard carves
F
She looked good in her practice runs on the course yesterday.
M
And she had a good start to the race visually, even if we don’t have the time gaps. The turn where she fell was because she put so much pressure on her outside ski (left leg, the one WITHOUT a cruciate ligament!) that she came up too far and caught her arm in the gate. That threw her off balance and made her fall. Honestly, she went out there with a real fighting spirit. This woman has extraordinary courage. I’m French and very sad for her. Edit: When I say “I’m French,” I just meant that I’m not particularly a Lindsay fan (even though I admire what she’s achieved since the beginning of the season in particular and her career in general), and what happened to her really breaks my heart. It wasn’t any kind of attack on anyone. I was just talking about sports!
K
Commentators are always in such denial during these injuries. The woman is being flown off the mountain in a helicopter and they are already talking about the next race schedule. Truly bizarre behavior.
Y
To be fair, I believe airlifting is protocol for injuries I’m on the mountain
T
Yea this is a competition. Need to get someone off that mountain in the safest and quickest way possible. Often that’s a helicopter.
K
She got flown off after her crash last week when she tore her ACL. It’s insane she decided to complete still after such a serious injury
W
A helicopter is a precaution not a diagnosis. I’ve seen people airlifted off mountains and been fine the next day, and people walk off the mountain and lose their ability to walk for months. Range of outcomes and initial presentation are very wide. Might as well hope for something positive rather than dramatise.
H
Hearing her cries on the wide shots is horrifying
Y
I heard her scream I can’t feel my “…..” I couldn’t make the last part out but sounded like leg or legs. Hoping I’m wrong
O
Definitely hear this. I can get the audio without an announcer over it but still don’t know what she says. If you have the eurosport app, you can choose “no announcer” and hear it. My best guess is “I can’t see or feel it.” But this is a bad guess
I
If she is seriously injured this will be the most avoidable sad way to go out ever. When she made the announcement last week that her ACL was completely ruptured, but she still planned to compete I was like “wut”. Like, sorry, but enough is enough. The moment she said that, the entire thing transformed from a “comeback story” to a sad old athlete with the inability to let go. Like fuckin YIKES
N
Hindsight is 20/20 as they say. On this one, foresight was 20/20 too. You could say this injury could have happened to anyone. I’d say tiny changes in her mechanics caused her to make a mistake, and being middle aged with an ACL that exploded 10 days ago is a lot of risk factors.
G
Competitors at this level think differently. What they’ve invested at this point dwarfs the imagination.. She has access to doctors and therapy and figured ‘why not keep charging’ . Clearly she doesn’t have to be at work Monday morning
N
It’s true you don’t become a skiing gold medalist by playing it safe. I totally get why she did it. It’s like a Mighty Ducks movie. Stories like that are the reason we LOVE sports. But tunnel vision is great until it’s not. Yeah she doesn’t have to be at work on Monday. She has to live in her body the rest of her life though. I’m sure she would like to casually ski with her children someday and show them the ropes? I’m sure she’d love to stay active? All for a SECOND gold medal?? It reminds me of Tom Brady’s last season, where he’d just won a superbowl. He was definitely the GOAT. And his supermodel wife was like “uh hey Tom I get it, but it’s definitely time to hang up the cleats.” And he was like “nah cya.” And for what, a low chance to go from 7 rings to 8?? To your point, maybe that’s why I’m not TB12 or LVonn.
S
CBC announcers were saying she said “I can’t get my ski off”.
N
She definitely says “I can’t take my skis off”
W
It could be a neck breaking crash.. look at how she lands on her head.
O
Generally when someone is crying out like this, it’s usually in pain, which I am going to interpret as a sign that the neck was not broken. Thats probably just me hoping for the best though
F
Conversely, not feeling anything when you know that you should would be horrifying. It may not be easy to distinguish pain screams from terror screams.
K
I’ve dislocated my shoulder several times and it’s really not all that painful, but it’s absolutely terrifying not being able to move my arm properly. The first time it happened I was screaming because I thought my arm fell off.
I
Oh my gosh. That’s awful. That course is the most treacherous I’ve seen in the Olympics. The initial drop is 60 degrees.
P
Guttural. Hard to watch
A
awful for all the competitors that have to go after her too
K
The ironic reprieve is that generally… they are actually quite used to it. crashes, helicopters, and course holds are a fact of life in DH and more of a ‘when’ one tends to ignore, rather than ‘if’ it’ll ever be their turn
D
It’s been Lindsay’s turn so many times.
J
C-spine precautions and a heli out. Very glad it is professionally and quickly done to get her out. The Aussie broadcast has replayed a few different angles in slow and hyper slow-mo. Gnarly beyond belief.
2
We didn’t get the Audio that some countries got, thankfully
M
> The Aussie broadcast has replayed a few different angles in slow and hyper slow-mo. They all did. The broadcasters have to show the world feed produced by OBS and they call the shots on what to show.
E
Looool not if you’re American. NBC does what they please.
A
Including muting Vance getting booed
A
She’s screaming in pain and is not getting up.
F
helicopter coming in now
C
Shout out to r/ACL for helping me and many others through my multiple procedures.
S
I still remember reading about Vonn’s single leg squats from her acl rehab. Can’t believe she competed even after her recent crash
T
I still remember having to talk my ortho doctor into surgery on my knee b/c all they saw on the MRI was a torn meniscus and “that little tear wouldn’t be causing so much pain and instability of the joint”… When I woke up he said “yeah we fixed the meniscus… Also found and fixed a tear to your ACL…”
M
That’s tragic. She absolutely slayed the practice ran I saw. Wonder if nerves played a part.
J
That knee is … from a professional perspective … fucked
I
Wonder if both knees or even her hip on the one leg have some form of injury, some of the rotations her legs did looked painful
Additional Sources:
