CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy (AP) — Most television viewers who watched Lindsey Vonn's horrifying crash couldn't shift their focus from the writhing skier in the moments before she was airlifted off the Olympic downhill course.
Not so for those whose loved ones were competing immediately afterward.
“I could only think of Jackie,” said Maxime Boutemy, whose girlfriend, Jacqueline Wiles, was set to compete three skiers after Vonn.
“We were (pooping) our pants.”
Wiles completed her run Sunday without issue and finished fourth. Shortly afterward, two more skiers crashed, one of whom had to be airlifted. Last weekend, Wiles raced in Switzerland and was unscathed while three of her five competitors crashed.
Wiles and Paula Moltzan won the bronze medal for the U.S. in the team combined on Tuesday.
Families of skiers have always worried about the safety of their loved ones, but Vonn's crash has only heightened those fears. Wiles' loved ones said that, instead of rooting for her to medal, they're now just hoping she makes it down the slope.
Vonn’s father said Monday that the American star will no longer race if he has any influence over her decision and that she will not return to the Winter Olympics after breaking her left leg in the downhill.
“She’s 41 years old and this is the end of her career,” Alan Kildow said.
Throughout Wiles' childhood in Oregon and burgeoning ski career, father David Wiles said he rooted for her success in competitions. Then came a fall on a course in Germany, just a week before she was set to compete at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics. She tore several knee ligaments, an injury that ended her season.
“Before she crashed in 2018, whenever I'd watch her, I just wanted her to ski fast,” David Wiles said. “But then, now when I watch races, I have a more visceral reaction. I want her to be safe.”
Then, last July, Wiles — who wants to be a pilot — was a passenger on a training flight with Boutemy in Sisters, Oregon, when their plane dovetailed and crashed. The aircraft had been too heavy, the air density too low, the runway too short. Boutemy managed to get Wiles out of the wreckage before it was engulfed in flames. She suffered a concussion and burns, and he was relatively unscathed. The pilot also survived.
“She thinks about it every day,” said Boutemy, an electrical engineer.
Wiles still hopes to be a pilot once she retires from skiing, her father said. But she hasn't flown since.
“I get anxious now for a race. When she fell, she was out for a year and a half and most people would have said I'm done, but she kept fighting,” David Wiles said.
“But,” he added, “it makes her so happy, and as a parent you want your kids to be happy. She's doing it because she wants to do it, not me. Do I enjoy watching it? Yeah. Am I proud of her? Yes. But it's her life.”
Speaking at a news conference Monday, Vonn's teammates said they knew their choice of career could prompt worry from family members.
Nina O'Brien said she didn't speak much with her family about Vonn's injury.
“I think all of us ski racers know, unfortunately, injury can be a pretty big part of this sport, and it’s painful and you don’t know when it will strike,” she said.
“That’s something that we all have to accept and somehow compartmentalize and put aside what we get in to the starting gate. For me, personally, the healthiest way is to try and forget that for the moment and just focus on whatever I need to do in order to perform.”
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AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
