Winter Olympics slammed for airing 'stomach churning' audio of Lindsey Vonn crying in pain after horror ski crash

Many Winter Olympics viewers have flocked to social media to slam the sporting event for airing audio of Lindsey Vonn's horror ski crash on Sunday (February 8).

The Team USA star revealed last week she'd ruptured her ACL as well as sustaining meniscal damage and a bruised bone, which made her appearance at the 2026 Games this week even more surprising.

Vonn clocked the third-fastest time in the second downhill training session on Saturday, leading to fans believing she may be back to her best.

However, the Olympian was involved in a horrific crash on Sunday morning as she clipped one of the flags on the challenging course in hopes of bagging a medal.

Footage saw Vonn tumbling down the slope before coming to a halt as the crowd were stunned into silence at Milano Cortina 2026.

Live coverage of the incident heard Vonn yelp screams as medics rushed towards her to help. The 41-year-old has since been airlifted to hospital, and her condition remains unclear at this time.

In the aftermath of the crash, many fans flocked to social media to question why the Olympics continued to broadcast footage of Vonn as she was receiving medical attention.

One person penned on X: "Those cries from Lindsey Vonn are heartbreaking. She's obviously in a lot of pain. The cameramen need to be told to keep the camera off of her, and mute the mics so they don't pick up her anguished cries. Have some respect for not just a legendary athlete, but a human being."

Another described the footage and audio as 'stomach churning', before adding: "The cries of pain from Lindsey Vonn will be hard to remove from my mind."

A third remarked: "Watching Lindsey Vonn fall and hearing her scream in panic is terrible," while a fourth quipped: "I appreciate the footage they're continuing to show from the downhill Skiing, but I'm not sure we should have heard the mics of Lindsey Vonn's screams for so long after the crash."

Finally, a fifth summed up: "Sick to my stomach seeing Lindsay screaming in agony. This looked so bad."

Following the crash, the US ski team stated Vonn 'fell in the Olympic downhill and will be evaluated by medical staff'. The statement is the only comment released about the sports star at the time of writing.

Prior to competing at the 2026 Winter Olympics, Vonn detailed the extent of her ACL injury as she penned in an Instagram post: "My ACL was fully functioning until last Friday. Just because it seems impossible to you doesn’t mean it’s not possible. And yes, my ACL is 100% ruptured. Not 80% or 50%. It’s 100% gone."

UNILAD has reached out to the Olympics for comment.