Alan Kildow, a former ski racer himself, was the one who taught his daughter Lindsey Vonn how to race. After her recent Olympic crash, he now has an emotional plea for her, one Vonn may not want to hear.

It all comes up after Vonn returned to Cortina, the Olympic host city filled with 24 years of memories, to compete on the global stage despite a torn ACL.

She pushed through the pain and raced. But that decision ended in a violent crash that required her to be airlifted by helicopter.

As Vonn received treatment, her father stayed by her side at the hospital. Overwhelmed, he didn’t hold back. “She’s 41 years old, and this is the end of her career,” Kildow told the Associated Press in a phone interview. “There will be no more ski races for Lindsey Vonn, as long as I have anything to say about it.”

His concern is understandable. Kildow, along with Vonn’s brother and two sisters, has remained with her throughout her hospital stay. She suffered a complex tibia fracture and is expected to undergo multiple surgeries to repair the damage.

Despite the severity of the injury, she remains stable. “She’s a very strong individual,” Kildow added. “She knows physical pain. She understands the situation she’s in and is able to handle it—better than I expected. She’s a very, very strong person, and I think she’s handling it really well.”

And he isn’t wrong. Vonn’s really “strong”. She announced her intention to return to competition despite retiring in 2019.

Even after rupturing her ACL at Crans-Montana, she chose to show up and race. So clearly her toughness has never been in doubt. Still, her father wasn’t finished yet.

Lindsey Vonn’s Dad Clears Air on Crash

Kildow also pushed back against comments made by sports medicine doctor Brian Sutterer, who attempted to downplay Vonn’s comeback. Basically, Sutterer suggested that she may have already torn her left ACL before the crash.

“What was the state of her ACL before the crash last week?” Sutterer wrote on social media. “What she is doing now would not be nearly as surprising in an elite athlete whose knee was already functioning as if the ACL were torn at baseline.”

He added that athletes sometimes compete for years with chronic ACL injuries, as the body adapts over time. However, both Vonn and her father strongly disagreed.

They made it clear that the recent crash had nothing to do with a preexisting ACL issue in her left leg. “She demonstrated she was able to function at a very high level during two downhill training runs,” Kildow said. “She had also been cleared by high-level physicians to ski.”

He went on to explain that the crash happened because Vonn pushed the limits of her racing line. She clipped a gate early in the run and lost control.

As a former skier himself, Kildow believes that detail matters. What do you think? Tell us in the comments.

Written by

Yashika Dutta

Edited by

Oajaswini Prabhu