Three months after her Olympic comeback ended with a serious leg injury, Lindsey Vonn used her trials and tribulations on the slopes to deliver a message to USC’s graduating class of 2026.
Speaking at the commencement ceremony for the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism at USC, Vonn cited the need for failure and resiliency as teachers to make yourself the best possible version of who you are going to become.
Vonn’s speech takes on added reverence given her return to skiing in November 2024 after retiring following major knee injury. She qualified for the Olympics in December 2025, then injured her knee a week before the Games at the World Cup downhill and wound up crashing again in the women’s downhill final in Milano Cortina.
The Olympic crash was so severe that there was a brief possibility Vonn’s leg would have needed to be amputated.
Now, having undergone eight surgeries in the last three months, Vonn is on the mend and has teased possibly returning to the slopes in a competitive manner.
Vonn was able to take the message of resiliency built over a storied 25-year career that includes three Olympic medals to help inspire the emerging generation.
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