American Olympic skier Lindsey Vonn suffered a devastating fall seconds into her Olympic downhill run with the race halted as she received medical attention.
The 41-year-old, making an extraordinary comeback despite a serious knee injury, lost control early in her run after starting 13th and landed on her side before being pitched backwards down the Olimpia delle Tofane piste.
She was treated for her injuries on the slopes for almost 20 minutes before being airlifted away.
Vonn, a former Olympic gold medalist, revealed five days ago that she had "completely ruptured" her ACL but that she still planned to compete in Italy.
Less that two weeks ago the American skier was airlifted to hospital after crashing in a downhill race in Switzerland and was later diagnosed with a ruptured ACL and bone bruising.
Despite this she was determined to compete at the Olympics, but she crashed just 13.4 seconds into the downhill race.
Vonn was crowned Olympic downhill champion at Vancouver 2010 and returned to the sport in December 2024 having initially retired in 2019 and has had a partial knee replacement.
When the race eventually restarted, World champion Breezy Johnson won the gold medal.
Germany's Emma Aicher took the silver medal, 0.04 of a second slower, and Italy's home favourite Sofia Goggia had to settle for bronze.
Johnson's Olympic title, on Cortina d'Ampezzo's sunlit Olimpia delle Tofane piste, came exactly a year after she won world championship gold at Saalbach, Austria.
