Sports
Lindsey Vonn is ready for the Winter Olympics despite injury
LINDSEY VONN HAS waited a long time for this. After Thursday’s downhill training was canceled due to heavy snowfall and Friday’s practice was delayed more than 90 minutes by fog, Vonn pushed out of a start gate for the first time this Olympics.
The 10th skier to drop, she skied smoothly and confidently and led through most of the course before making a couple of errors over the rollers at the bottom and finishing with the 11th-best time of the day. Her run was remarkable for how unremarkable it was.
Just three days earlier, Vonn announced that she would still compete at these Olympics despite completely tearing the ACL in her left knee a few days before. Making it through a training run in front of the world would prove to her and everyone else that she is fit to compete Sunday.
“This felt like race day to me,” her coach Aksel Lund Svindal said Friday. “You know her history. She’s gone hard at times when people have told her she probably shouldn’t be in the start gate.”
Vonn has been in this position before. The story of these Olympics is the story of her career: long streaks of unparalleled success interrupted by injury — often just before or during an Olympics.
At the 2006 Games, she crashed in a downhill training run, was airlifted from the mountain and returned two days later to finish eighth. In 2010, she suffered a deep shin bruise she called the most painful injury of her life. She won the downhill. In 2014, she missed the Games with a partial ACL tear, and in 2018, she skied with a chunk of cartilage dislodged in her right knee.
She wanted this time to be different. She came into this season as strong as she’s been in a decade. She was pain-free. And she was winning again.
But ski racing is risky, and Vonn skis on the edge. “Because I push the limits, I crash, and I’ve been injured more times than I would like to admit — to myself, even,” she said Tuesday.
10:22
Lindsey Vonn on grief, growth and her second chance at ski racing
Lindsey Vonn reflects on the physical and emotional pain that shaped her final Olympics, the self‑discovery that followed retirement, and the joy and confidence fueling her return to ski racing.
“I’ve been working really hard to come into these Games in a much different position [than in years past],” Vonn said. “I know what my chances were before the crash, and I know my chances aren’t the same as it stands today. But I know there’s still a chance, and as long as there’s a chance, I will try.”
Vonn will take her chance at the downhill on Sunday at her fifth Olympics. She said she is not in pain and her knee feels stable. She posted videos of herself doing squats and speed workouts in the gym this week and took a second training run Saturday, where she was more than two seconds faster than the day before. Svindel said he saw symmetry in her skiing and that her left- and right-footed turns looked equally strong.
Although this isn’t how Vonn imagined her final Olympics starting, it’s hard to think of a more fitting place for the 41-year-old to end her ski racing career. She made her first World Cup podium in Cortina as a teenager in 2004, and her 12 World Cup wins here are more than any other skier has earned at a single venue.
“I never thought I would be in this position,” Vonn said in late October. She was in New York ahead of the World Cup season and unaware of how the next few months would go — that she would win the first downhill race of the year or that by the time she arrived in Cortina, the world would be wondering once again if she could even race.
But had she known what lay ahead, Vonn likely would have said something similar to what she did Tuesday: Her return isn’t about wins or losses, but rather about showing up in the start gate and trying. She is not letting this injury derail her second chance at ending her career on her terms.
“If it had been anywhere else, I would probably say it’s not worth it,” Vonn said. “But for me, there’s something special about Cortina that always pulls me back, and it’s pulled me back one last time.”
BY ANY MEASURE, even without this comeback, Vonn’s career has been spectacular. When she retired at 34, she had more World Cup wins, 82, than any woman and the second most in history, after Swedish great Ingemar Stenmark’s 86. Vonn’s American teammate, Mikaela Shiffrin, has since surpassed both skiers, with 108 World Cup wins and counting, but Vonn still holds the record for the most downhill wins by any skier, male or female. She is also the only American woman to win gold in the downhill at the Olympics.
But she didn’t retire on her terms.
Instead, Vonn’s body made the decision for her. She suffered a devastating string of injuries, underwent multiple ACL and MCL repairs and skied through constant pain. By the 2018 Olympics in Pyeongchang, she could barely bend her right knee or straighten it entirely.
A year later, she competed in her final world championships. Ahead of her last race, knowing how much pain she was pushing through, Vonn’s longtime coach, Erich Sailer, who died last August, told her, “What’s 90 seconds in a lifetime?” She earned bronze and said goodbye to the sport. “When I said I was retired, I was retired,” Vonn says. “I really, truly built my life outside of skiing in a meaningful way.”
In retirement, she embraced being a beginner. She tried car racing, rodeo roping and wrote a book. She shared about her adventures with her beloved rescue dogs, her mental health and her time with family and friends. Experiencing life beyond the isolated world of elite ski racing provided her better perspective and built her self-confidence off skis.
In August 2022, Vonn lost her mother, Linda, who died after a yearlong battle with ALS. Her mother’s life inspired how Vonn lived. Her death influenced Vonn’s decision to return to racing.
“My mother in general, her attitude has always inspired my comebacks,” Vonn said in October. “Her passing makes me realize even more that life is short. I’m given this opportunity and I can’t take that for granted.
“And if I fail, who cares?” she said. “I’ve already won everything. Someone asked me if not being successful at the Olympics would tarnish my legacy. No, because I tried. My legacy is not about winning, it’s about trying.”
Vonn underwent a partial knee replacement in April 2024, and within a month, she could straighten her leg fully and perform exercises she hadn’t done in years. She started to dream.
Knowing the next Winter Games were in Cortina gave her a goal, and she returned to the sport as a better skier than when she retired. “I’m generating speed off my right side, which I haven’t in a very long time,” Vonn said in October. “My right-footed turn is my best turn. I don’t know the last time that’s been the case.” That will be crucial here in Cortina as she adapts to a new injury to her left knee.
Vonn also added 12 pounds of muscle ahead of this season and increased her overall strength and agility, all of which — along with a knee brace — will help stabilize her injured knee. In August, she began working with Svindal, a two-time Olympic champion for Norway who retired the same month she did in 2019.
So far this season, Vonn has finished on the podium in five of five World Cup downhill races and won two, in addition to earning two podiums in three Super-G races.
Vonn said yes to this comeback for two simple reasons: because she can, and because she believes she can win, especially in Cortina. Despite the injury, both things are still true. She knows this course. She knows where and how to push its limits and she said Tuesday that when she’s in the start gate, she won’t be thinking about her knee. She’ll be thinking about skiing fast.
“I love everything about the Cortina track,” Vonn said last year. “I understand it well. In downhill, it’s all about seeing the fall line and being able to carry speed. I know the places where I can make a mistake and where I can’t, the places I have to accelerate. Overall, I have a great feel for what it takes to ski fast there.”
If VONN BELIEVES in anything, it’s second chances.
In the summer of 2025, less than a year after she announced her return, Vonn’s sister suggested she adopt a new companion to travel the World Cup circuit with her. “She said, ‘You’re much happier when you have a dog with you,'” Vonn said.
Vonn was still mourning the loss of Lucy, her Cavalier King Charles spaniel who traveled everywhere with her, even sitting next to her at dinners and in Olympic news conferences. But in August, she started looking. She scrolled through listings on an adoption website and on the very last page, she saw him: a Cavalier King Charles spaniel puppy with a cute brown face cleaved by a white hourglass stripe. And he already had the perfect name: Chance.
“I was like, ‘This is poetic,'” Vonn said. “This is my boy. This is my second chance.”
Chance has been by her side all season.
In October, she took him on his first international trip to a training camp in Chile, and he’s been traveling with her nonstop since. Vonn carries her mom and Lucy with her, too, racing in a helmet featuring their initials, as well as the first initial of seven others she’s lost in recent years: her grandparents, Sailer and another beloved rescue dog, Bear. She calls the group her “angel army.”
After she won her first World Cup downhill race in nearly seven years in December, Vonn posted a photo of Chance on the couch in her hotel room in St. Moritz next to her trophies. “This weekend was amazing in so many ways,” she wrote. “All the work that was put in over the past year is coming together … The best is yet to come.”
No matter what happens in the downhill Sunday, Chance will surely be waiting for Vonn in her hotel room with a wagging tail and unconditional support.
“This is all icing on the cake,” Vonn said this week. “I never expected to be here. I felt like this was an amazing opportunity to close out my career in a way that I wanted to. Hasn’t gone exactly the way I wanted, but I don’t want to have any regrets.”
This season, Vonn allowed herself to dream of Olympic gold again. Although her injury has made winning the downhill an uphill battle, she still believes it is possible. On Sunday, she’ll remember the advice Sailer gave her in 2019: What’s 90 seconds in a lifetime?
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Tiger Woods was released from jail Friday night after he was arrested earlier in the day on a DUI charge following a car crash in Florida.
In a mugshot released hours after his arrest, Woods’ eyes appeared bloodshot, as he donned a blue polo inside the Martin County Jail in Florida.
Woods was seen leaving the jail in the passenger seat of a black SUV after his release on bail late Friday, according to The Associated Press.
Martin County Sheriff John Budensiek confirmed in a news conference that Woods was traveling at “a high rate of speed” when his vehicle collided with another car, resulting in his vehicle rolling over onto the driver’s side.
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Tiger Woods was booked into Martin County, Florida, jail on March 27, 2026. (AP)
Authorities said Woods “exemplified signs of impairment.” He blew “triple-zeroes” for alcohol but refused a urine test.
“DUI investigators came to the scene here, and Mr. Woods did exemplify signs of impairment. They did several tests on him. Of course, he did explain the injuries and the surgeries that he had. We did take that into account, but they did do some in-depth roadside tests,” Budensiek added.
“We really weren’t suspicious of alcohol being involved in this case, and that proved to be true at the jail. … But when it came time for us to ask for a urinalysis test, he refused. And, so, he’s been charged with DUI, with property damage and refusal to submit to a lawful test.”
Woods was spotted on the phone after the crash, wearing navy blue shorts.
Woods was charged with DUI, property damage and refusal to submit to a test, all misdemeanor charges. No one was injured, authorities said. Woods was alone in the car and crawled out of the passenger door after the crash.
Tiger Woods was driven from the Martin County Jail after being arrested for driving under the influence following a car crash on March 27, 2026, in Stuart, Florida. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
VANESSA, KAI TRUMP TAKE IN TIGER WOODS’ RETURN TO GOLF AT TGL FINALS
“This could’ve been a lot worse,” Budensiek noted.
President Donald Trump commented on the arrest of his “very close friend.”
“I feel so badly. He’s got some difficulty,” Trump said. “There was an accident, and that’s all I know. Very close friend of mine. He’s an amazing person, an amazing man, but some difficulty.”
Woods has not commented on the arrest.
Tiger Woods was arrested on a DUI charge after getting into a car crash on Friday. (Associated Press)
Woods currently is dating Trump’s ex-daughter-in-law, Vanessa, whose daughter, Kai, is set to play college golf in Miami next week.
This is Woods’ second DUI arrest within the last decade. In 2017, he was taken into custody, also in Jupiter Island, after taking prescription drugs and being asleep behind the wheel of a running car at 3 a.m.
In 2021, he got into a wreck that resulted in serious leg injuries that kept him off the golf course for the entire year.
Golfer Tiger Woods stands by his overturned vehicle in Jupiter Island, Fla., Friday, March 27, 2026. (Jason Oteri/AP)
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Woods made his return to competitive golf earlier this week in the TGL championship after rupturing his Achilles just before last year’s Masters (this year’s tournament is in less than two weeks). Woods has not appeared on the links since the 2024 PGA Championship, in which he missed the cut.
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Mohamed Salah formally broke the news on Tuesday that many Liverpool fans had felt was coming for several months: that he will be cutting his contract short and leaving Anfield on a free transfer at the end of the season.
Salah signed a new two-year deal with the Reds last summer. However, since then a dip in form, a slip down the pecking order, an explosive public outburst and a subsequent nosedive in his relationship with head coach Arne Slot, has seen the Egypt international fail to get as much game time as he feels he deserves.
However, since arriving in 2017, Salah has firmly established himself as one of Liverpool’s greatest-ever players and will undoubtedly depart a hero regardless of the current circumstances.
– Why Salah beats Ronaldo, Henry as Premier League’s greatest
– Salah will get the Liverpool farewell, but he leaves a void to fill
– Liverpool’s ‘greatest’: Mohamed Salah saluted by teammates
The 33-year-old has scored 255 goals in 435 appearances for the club (putting him third on their all-time list) and been instrumental in two Premier League title triumphs, domestic cup successes and the UEFA Champions League trophy in 2018-19.
He has also collected a number of individual plaudits, including three PFA Players’ Player of the Year awards, two Premier League Player of the Season awards and four Premier League Golden Boots.
Salah was also bestowed with the illustrious Puskás Award as part of The Best FIFA Award gala night in 2018, which — unlike the majority of his vast array of prizes and trophies — raised more than a few quizzical eyebrows around the world.
The forward was handed world football’s Goal of the Year award via an online fan vote for his strike against Everton in December 2017, when he collected the ball on the edge of the box before darting between two defenders and curling an exquisite finish beyond the goalkeeper.
Of course, it was and remains a perfectly decent goal. Yet many at the time were baffled to see Salah’s effort deemed to be the most beautiful goal scored that year … when it wasn’t even his best goal of 2017-18, or anywhere close.
The sentiment was even echoed by teammate James Milner, who offered wry congratulations to his then-Liverpool teammate after the winner was announced, fending off competition from Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale and a clutch of scorching golazos from the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
“Congrats Mo Salah on your 7th best goal from last season winning goal of the year,” Milner wrote in a social-media post which also featured “#oneofmanyworldies” among several hashtags and emojis.
But was Milner right? By our count there were at least six Salah strikes from his imperious 2017-18 season that deserved a place on the Puskás short list ahead of his goal in the Merseyside derby. But, whether you agree with this subjective list or not, it serves as a reminder of just what a player Salah has been for Liverpool.
Salah scored twice in a 3-0 victory against Southampton including a lovely effort from outside the box. The precise, angled finish was fairly similar to his strike against Everton but from a little further out.
2. Nov. 29, 2017 vs. Stoke City
Another rampant 3-0 win saw Salah score the goal of the game when he connected with a dinked cross from Sadio Mané to thump a vicious volley past the goalkeeper. The powerful finish was actually voted Goal of the Month by Liverpool fans.
Liverpool inflicted a first Premier League defeat of 2017-18 on Manchester City with a frantic 4-3 victory over the leaders at Anfield that went down as the game of the season. The score went from 1-1 to 4-1 in the space of just nine hectic minutes with Salah scoring what proved to be the decisive goal with an audacious 35-yard lob.
Liverpool and Spurs contested another dramatic thriller that saw the two sides trade stoppage-time goals in a pulsating 2-2 draw at Anfield. Salah opened the scoring for the home side before Victor Wanyama pegged them back with an absolutely monstrous hit from distance. The Egypt international then looked to have snatched a 91st-minute win when he wriggled through a cluster of four defenders and belted it past Hugo Lloris. However, a 96-minute penalty from Harry Kane spoiled the party somewhat.
5. March 17, 2018 vs. Watford
Salah scored four goals (and assisted the other) in a 5-0 rout at Anfield on what proved to be one of many virtuoso displays for the nimble forward this season. His first was good, the second was slick and the third was nigh-on ingenious as the Reds star somehow fended off an entire pack of defenders before prodding an improvised finish past the goalkeeper.
6. April 24, 2018 vs. AS Roma
If you’ll forgive the obvious pun, Salah filed another five-star performance in Liverpool’s 5-2 thrashing of his former club in the first leg of the Champions League semifinal. He opened the scoring with his best goal of the night, curling an immaculate shot beyond the outstretched arm of future teammate Alisson Becker. He then dinked home a second before laying on assists for the Reds’ third and fourth goals of the evening.
Tiger Woods’ turbulent career veered into fresh turmoil on Friday when the golf icon was arrested and charged with driving under the influence after a rollover crash near his Florida home, authorities said.
Woods, 50, escaped injury but was detained after his vehicle clipped a truck while attempting to overtake on a residential road on Jupiter Island, flipping onto its side before sliding to a stop.
Martin County Sheriff John Budensiek said Woods — who was arrested for driving under the influence in 2017 — showed signs of “impairment”, although he passed a breathalyser test.
“When it came time for us to ask for a urinalysis test, he refused, and so he’s been charged with DUI, with property damage and refusal to submit to a lawful test in the crash,” Budensiek said.
The 15-time major champion was released later on Friday, with Florida law requiring him to remain in jail for at least eight hours before he could post bail.
Budensiek said drug recognition experts who examined Woods at the scene found the golfer “lethargic” and believed he was impaired with “some kind of medication or drug.”
No drugs or medication were found in his vehicle and since Woods refused the urine test, his right under Florida law, authorities “will never get definitive results as to what he was impaired on at the time of the crash,” Budensiek said.
‘Could have been worse’
While neither Woods nor the driver of the other vehicle was injured, Budensiek said the incident on the two-lane road “could have been a lot worse.”
“Had somebody been moving in the opposite direction, we would not be having a conversation saying there was no injuries,” he said.
Budensiek said he didn’t know how fast Woods was driving in the moments before the crash.
He said the driver of the truck had slowed to make a turn, then tried to move to the side of the road when he saw Woods’s fast-moving vehicle attempting to overtake him.
“When I show you the photos, they kind of speak for themselves … you can see that [Woods] slid for a decent space before he came to a stop,” said the sheriff, who said that after the crash Woods climbed out of the passenger-side window of his Land Rover.
President Donald Trump expressed sympathy for Woods in remarks to reporters in Miami following the incident.
“He’s got some difficulty, there was an accident, and that’s all I know,” Trump said. “Very close friend of mine. He’s an amazing person, amazing man, but, uh, some difficulty.”
Woods was arrested in Jupiter in 2017 after police found him asleep at the wheel of his damaged car. Woods eventually pleaded guilty to reckless driving and said he had taken a mix of painkillers.
Five years ago, Woods was involved in a serious car crash in California that left him with severe right leg injuries that required pins inserted in his foot and ankle and a rod in his tibia as well as a follow-up surgery in 2023.
Woods returned from that crash at the 2022 Masters, where he struggled to walk all four rounds on the way to a 47th-place finish.
Woods, whose clean-cut image was left in tatters after a 2009 sex scandal that upended his career, has been working to return from an Achilles tendon rupture last March and back surgery last October.
He competed earlier this week in the TGL simulator indoor golf league finals and had not ruled out playing in next month’s Masters, where his five victories include his first major title in 1997 and his most recent in 2019.
“This body … it doesn’t recover like it did when it was 24, 25. It doesn´t mean I’m not trying,” Woods said. “I keep trying.”
Woods, whose 82 PGA Tour career victories are level with Sam Snead for the all-time record, has not competed on tour since missing the cut at the British Open in July 2024.
He last made the cut at the 2024 Masters, where he finished 60th.
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