American skier Lindsey Vonn crashed seconds into her downhill Olympic race on Sunday after she decided to compete despite rupturing her left ACL in a prior crash during a World Cup event in the Swiss Alps a week ago.

The 41-year-old American, who came out of retirement to compete in the 2026 Winter Olympics, earlier confirmed that she had fully ruptured her ACL, but said she felt confident she could still complete the race with the help of a knee brace.

Seconds into the race, Vonn lost control after she appeared to clip a flag marking the side of the course, flew sideways in the air and hit her head on the ground. She was responsive but did not get up. Medical personnel put her on a stretcher and airlifted her from the course.

Vonn’s “right ski pole snagged a gate, jerking her off balance and out of control,” Team USA said in a statement.

After the crash, Vonn could be heard screaming that she wasn’t able to remove her skis. She was taken to a clinic in Cortina, then transferred to a larger hospital in Treviso, a two-hour drive to the south, the Associated Press reported.

Vonn was being “treated by a multidisciplinary team” and “underwent an orthopedic operation to stabilize a fracture reported in her left leg,” the Ca’ Foncello hospital said in a statement.

The U.S. Ski Team said she had “sustained an injury” but was “in stable condition and in good hands with a team of American and Italian physicians.”

“She’ll be OK, but it’s going to be a bit of a process,” said Anouk Patty, chief of sport for U.S. Ski and Snowboard. “This sport’s brutal and people need to remember when they’re watching (that) these athletes are throwing themselves down a mountain and going really, really fast.”

Vonn had family in the stands, including her father, Alan Kildow, who stared down at the ground while his daughter was being treated. Others in the crowd, including Snoop Dogg, watched quietly as the star skier was finally taken off the course where she had so many fond memories.

Thomas Pronske from Austin, Texas, who was watching the event on the sidelines, told CBS News after the accident: “I hope she’s OK. It did not look good. We saw her take quite a bit of a tumble and I’m praying and wishing for the best for her … She was a very big reason why I was here. It’s just remarkable the comeback story of her overcoming adversity … I’ve torn my ACL myself, I know it’s a painful injury … and again I hope she’s ok.”

Maria Pronske, Thomas’ mother, who said she was so inspired by Vonn that she had come to see the event with an injured knee herself on her birthday, told CBS News that she “felt awful for her with her knee … Poor thing. I feel so sorry for her. I pray for her too.”

Crista Kosher, the cousin of Jacqueline Wiles, another Team USA skier who came in fourth in Sunday’s race, said it was “absolutely devastating to see her teammate be lifted off the hill.”

“Lindsay and Jacqueline have been racing together for years and years and years now, and they definitely have a mentor-mentee relationship, and seeing her friend go down is really challenging for everyone, but we wish the best for Lindsay and her recovery,” Kosher said.

Charles Christianson, a retired ex-ski racer from Park City, Utah, said the crash was “absolutely heartbreaking.”

“Everyone is here to cheer on the entire American team and especially celebrate Lindsay’s incredible career. This is absolutely heartbreaking, but true to form, Lindsay wouldn’t have it any other way,” Christianson said. “She knew the risks. Ski racers always accept it and you saw the determination when she went out of the gate. She was charging. There was never a doubt in her mind what she was going to do and it was gonna be podium or bust and it goes both ways. So again, the respect of the crowd and everyone here shows how important she’s been to the sport. We’re going to have to see what happens. We wish her the best. But just a gut punch.”

Ahead of Sunday’s race, one Team USA official had said that Vonn getting into a bad crash during the race was their biggest fear. Given all the attention on her and her inspiring story, the image of her being airlifted off the course during the race was their worst-case scenario.

Before her retirement in 2019, Vonn had competed with a torn lateral collateral ligament, three tibia fractures and a bone bruise, and still won a bronze medal. She now has one titanium knee, though that’s not the joint that’s currently injured.

“Just getting to these Olympics has been a journey, and one that some did not believe in from the start,” Vonn said in a social media post late Saturday. “I retired for 6 years, and because of a partial knee replacement, I had the chance to compete one more time. But why? Everyone seems to be asking me that question. But I think the answer is simple… I just love ski racing.

“I am not unsure about life outside of sport. I am not searching for meaning or for attention or money. I know exactly who I am and I know exactly what I am made of,” she said.

Vonn had clocked the third-fastest time in a training run on Saturday, ahead of the race — behind her teammate Breezy Johnson — though the run was called off due to bad weather before all the racers had participated.

“I think it’s a good run,” Vonn’s coach, Aksel Lund Svindal, said. “Tomorrow is the race and it’s the Olympics and the girls will push harder. So everyone will probably go faster, meaning Lindsey would also need to go faster. But it’s a solid run, but I think she has one more gear.”

On Sunday, Johnson won gold after taking the early lead, flying down the iconic Olympia delle Tofana course on a sunny day in Cortina in 1:36.10. Emma Aicher of Germany and Sofia Goggia of Italy rounded up the podium.

LONDON — British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s chief of staff resigned Sunday over the furor surrounding the appointment of Peter Mandelson as the U.K. ambassador to the U.S. despite his ties to Jeffrey Epstein.

Morgan McSweeney said he took responsibility for advising Starmer to appoint Mandelson, 72, to Britain’s most important diplomatic post in 2024.

“The decision to appoint Peter Mandelson was wrong. He has damaged our party, our country and trust in politics itself,” McSweeney said in a statement. “When asked, I advised the Prime Minister to make that appointment and I take full responsibility for that advice.”

Starmer is facing a political storm and questions about his judgement after newly published documents, part of a huge trove of Epstein files made public in the United States, suggested that Mandelson sent market-sensitive information to the convicted sex offender when he was the U.K. government’s business secretary during the 2008 financial crisis.

Starmer’s government has promised to release its own emails and other documentation related to Mandelson’s appointment, which it says will show that Mandelson misled officials.

The prime minister apologized this week for “having believed Mandelson’s lies.” He said “none of us knew the depth of the darkness” of the relationship between Mandelson and Epstein when the former was vetted for the diplomat job.

But a number of lawmakers have called for Starmer to resign.

“Keir Starmer has to take responsibility for his own terrible decisions,” said Kemi Badenoch, leader of the opposition Conservative Party.

Mandelson, a former Cabinet minister, ambassador and elder statesman of the governing Labour Party, has not been arrested or charged.

Metropolitan Police officers searched Mandelson’s London home and another property linked to him on Friday. Police said the investigation is complex and will require “a significant amount of further evidence gathering and analysis.”

The U.K. police investigation centers on potential misconduct in public office, and Mandelson is not accused of any sexual offenses.

Starmer had fired Mandelson in September from his ambassadorial job over earlier revelations about his Epstein ties. But critics say the emails recently published by the U.S. Justice Department have brought serious concerns about Starmer’s judgment to the fore. They argue that he should have known better than to appoint Mandelson in the first place.

The new revelations include documents suggesting Mandelson shared sensitive government information with Epstein after the 2008 global financial crisis. They also include records of payments totaling $75,000 in 2003 and 2004 from Epstein to accounts linked to Mandelson or his husband Reinaldo Avila da Silva.

Aside from his association with Epstein, Mandelson previously had to resign twice from senior government posts because of scandals over money or ethics.