Lindsey Vonn crashed out of a World Cup Super-G race on Sunday while on pace for her best finish so far in her comeback to alpine skiing.

The American star was tracking toward a podium spot in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy — on the hill that will host the 2026 Olympics — when she went down onto her left side coming around a turn just over 50 seconds into her run and spun in the snow. She slammed her pole in frustration, got up on her own power, and skied down the hill, waving to the crowd at the bottom.

Vonn, one of 10 skiers who didn’t finish Sunday, had the 10th fastest split in the first sector of the race and fourth quickest in the second. She was just a half-second off the lead at that point — a pace that would’ve netted her a top-three position had she kept it up through the finish. Italy’s Federica Brignone won in 1:21.64, with the Swiss pair of Lara Gut-Behrami (1:22.22) and Corinne Suter (1:22.72) rounding out the podium.

“I definitely made some mistakes on the top, but I got a little bit behind the course and tried to pull it off,” Vonn told reporters after the race. “Then my skis kind of clicked together and I lost my balance.”

The Super-G crash was her second of the weekend after Vonn also went down during downhill training on Thursday.

It was Vonn’s fifth race back on the World Cup circuit since announcing an unlikely return to the sport after nearly six years away. Injuries drove her to retire in 2019, but a knee replacement in 2024 left her feeling pain-free and planning a comeback. She returned in December and finished 14th in a Super-G in St. Moritz, Switzerland, then took sixth in downhill and fourth in Super-G last week in St. Anton, Austria. On Saturday in Cortina, Vonn finished 20th in downhill.

A three-time Olympic medalist, including gold in the downhill at the 2010 Vancouver Games, Vonn holds the all-time record with 12 World Cup wins at Cortina d’Ampezzo, which will host the 2026 Games on the Olympia delle Tofane track that is a regular stop on the women’s tour.

In a post on X later Sunday, Vonn didn’t seem all that deterred by the rough weekend at one of her favorite venues.

“S— happens,” she wrote. “On to the next race.”

Jacqueline Wiles was the top American in Saturday’s downhill, finishing seventh. Lauren Macuga, the rising 22-year-old who won the St. Anton Super-G for her first World Cup race win, was the top U.S. finisher Sunday, taking 13th.

Vonn’s fourth-place finish in St. Anton made her the oldest woman to finish that high in a World Cup race. The 34-year-old Brignone, who now has four victories this season, is the oldest to ever win a World Cup race.

The strong results have brought Vonn back into the picture at the sport’s highest level. She’s 17th in the World Cup downhill standings and 14th in Super-G. Last week, Vonn told the Associated Press that she would retire again after the 2026 Olympics, if she makes the U.S. team there. The Olympic women’s alpine skiing program is slated to begin Feb. 8, 2026.

The World Cup speed skiing circuit heads to Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, next weekend, where Vonn is again scheduled to compete in the downhill and Super-G. After that, the World Cup schedule pauses for the world championships in Saalbach, Austria, which begin Feb. 4.

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Lindsey Vonn, at historic stop for women’s alpine, kicks off her World Cup return

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(Photo of Lindsey Vonn during Sunday’s Super-G: Mattia Ozbot / Getty Images)

PHILADELPHIA —  Jared Verse was the talk of the town before Sunday’s NFC divisional-round game between the Rams and the Philadelphia Eagles.

After the Rams rookie edge rusher told The Times last week that he hated Eagles fans and found them annoying, he became the target of heated fan discussion on local sports radio. A billboard even featured his quote.

Verse, however, embraced the role of the villain and had two of the Rams’ seven sacks in a 28-22 defeat at Lincoln Financial Field.

“It’s not like, ‘Oh, I’m going to shy away or get nervous’ or anything like that,” Verse said. “Nah, that turns me up. That hypes me up.”

About 90 minutes before kickoff on a cold day that would later feature snow, Verse slowly toured the entire perimeter of the field in a sleeveless black shirt, gray sweat pants and a blue beanie.

As he left the field with teammate Byron Young, he put his hand to his ear, inviting fans to increase the volume of their comments. When the Rams emerged from their locker room in uniform for pregame warmups, Verse was the last player out of the tunnel.

After the Eagles’ first possession, which ended with a long touchdown run by quarterback Jalen Hurts, the stadium video board featured a shot of Verse, who was loudly booed.

When Verse sacked Hurts in the second quarter, he lifted his arms, skipped off the field and jawed with fans behind the Rams bench.

Verse, a front-runner for NFL defensive rookie of the year, said he thought he played well but could have done more for a Rams defense that allowed Saquon Barkley to rush for 205 yards and two long touchdowns.

“I could have been better,” Verse said. “There’s more I could have done.”

As with coach Sean McVay and teammates, Verse lamented the way the season ended.

“It sucks how much adversity we had to overcome,” he said, “and in these final moments we weren’t able to overcome any more.”

Verse, the No. 19 pick in the draft, said he learned a lot during his rookie season.

“There’s like some dawgs out there,” he said, “You’re going to play every team that somebody is going to really test you.”

Verse said he would use what happened Sunday as motivation going into the offseason.

“Never want to feel like this again,” he said. “I don’t want my teammates to feel like this again.

“I don’t want to look in their eyes and see anything but pure bliss and pure happiness. And I’m going to do everything in my power to makes sure that doesn’t happen again.”

Houston Texans coach DeMeco Ryans was asked about a couple controversial calls that went against his team in Saturday’s AFC divisional round loss to the Kansas City Chiefs and seemingly hinted that the Texans expected that to be the case.

“We knew going in to today, it was us versus everybody,” Ryans said after the game. “And when I say everybody, it’s everybody. All the … whatever, the naysayers, the doubters … everybody.

“With that, knowing going into this game what we were up against, we can’t make the mistakes that we made.”

Quarterback C.J. Stroud added that “it’s one of those things you know what’s up before you even walk in the arena.”

The two particular calls involved hits against Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes.

The first flag was thrown after Texans pass rusher Will Anderson Jr. appeared to hit Mahomes high on third down late in the first quarter. The ensuing 15-yard roughing the passer penalty extended Kansas City’s drive, which ended with a Harrison Butker field goal to give the Chiefs a 6-3 lead.

Anderson more directly questioned the officiating after the game, saying: “We knew it was going to be us versus the refs going into this game.”

Referee Clay Martin told the pool reporter that on the Anderson play, “I had forcible contact to the facemark area and so I went with roughing the passer on that play.”

The second was an unnecessary roughness penalty called against Texans linebacker Henry To’oTo’o, who appeared to hit Mahomes as he was giving himself up after a 9-yard gain at the end of a scramble in the third quarter. The Chiefs ended that drive with an 11-yard touchdown pass from Mahomes to Travis Kelce that gave Kansas City a 20-12 lead.

“It makes me mad. But it is what it is, honestly,” To’oTo’o said.

Martin explained that when the quarterback slides, “he is considered defenseless. The onus is on the defender. I had forcible contact there to the hairline, to the helmet.”

Those penalties, coupled with several miscues from the Texans’ special teams unit, were major factors in the loss.

(Photo: Jamie Squire / Getty Images)