US Olympian Lindsey Vonn attempted to complete the women’s downhill on a torn ACL. So can the rest of us ski without a functioning ACL too? YKC’s Nick London explains.

Lindsey Vonn is one of the most successful female alpine skiers in history. She’s competed at five Olympics, winning gold in Vancouver in 2010. She’s one of just six women to have won World Cup races in all five disciplines of alpine skiing – downhill, super-G, giant slalom, slalom, and super combined. And in 2026, aged 41, she defied the odds to return from a partial knee replacement to qualify for the Winter Olympics in Milan Cortina.

You probably know the rest, but in preparation for her latest Olympic challenge she tore her anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) and still decided to compete. This led to countless headlines (a lot like the headline to this post) querying the wisdom of the decision, followed by many more ‘I told you so’-type headlines as she brutally crashed out of the downhill.

So, can you ski on a torn ACL? And next time you’re heading to the slopes while carrying a similar injury, should you follow Vonn’s example?

What does the ACL do?

The ACL (and the accompanying posterior cruciate ligament or PCL) cross over each other in the knee joint (hence ‘cruciate’). The ACL’s role is one of stabilisation. It connects thighbone and shinbone and ensures that, when you twist or pivot, the knee joint twists so far but not too far. In sport, the ACL is called into repeated action when athletes change direction at speed or stop and start suddenly. You really don’t want to try to return to football, netball, rugby or similar carrying an ACL tear.

In skiing, things can be a little different, depending on your level of ability.

> Discover more about ACLs (anterior cruciate ligaments)

Elite vs novice skiers – how ability affects the ACL

When most novices and early intermediates ski, their ACL has an important role to play. They ‘snowplough’, creating a V with the skis (pointy bit at the front) that helps them manage their speed and stop effectively. You need an ACL for that because snowploughing requires you to push the heels out and the toes in, twisting the knee joint into an unnatural angle.

It won’t have escaped your notice that accomplished skiers don’t do that. Their skis spend much more time sitting in parallel, even on the most demanding runs.

There are some runs that even the most capable skier should avoid with a torn ACL. Moguls (the bump filled slopes that make every knee surgeon wince) have the potential to send the ski, and therefore the knee, in all sorts of unintended directions and should be avoided.

I’m also unconvinced that, despite the reduced reliance on the ACL, it’s a good idea for even the best skier to put such extreme loads through a damaged knee joint, although it’s worth noting that the direct cause of Lindsey Vonn’s downhill crash was clipping the gate, not her torn ACL.

But then, I’m not an Olympic skier. Olympic athletes are made differently. Pushing limits is what makes them successful. Had Vonn suffered the ACL tear 12 months earlier, she’d surely have had an ACL reconstruction. But with just weeks to go, she took a gamble because it was possibly her last Olympics. That’s what elite athletes do.

It’s just not necessarily what you should do.

Can you ski on a torn ACL?

If you ski to a reasonable level – that is, you no longer need to snowplough – you may be able to ski with a damaged ACL as long as you stick to groomed (pisted) slopes and avoid skiing in poor light or on unpredictable, changing surface conditions.

If you’re not at that level, you’d be better advised to get the knee fixed before you attempt any skiing.

In either case, I’d advise speaking with your knee surgeon to discuss your situation – everybody is different and it may be that your surgeon will be a little more relaxed about a minor tear when you only ski once a year.

Have you injured your knee? Contact us or phone us on 03453 052 579.

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> Discover more about ACLs (anterior cruciate ligaments)