Lindsey Vonn’s coach and New England Patriots wide receiver Stefon Diggs are confident that the American skiing great can compete at the Milano Cortina Olympics with a ruptured ACL in her left knee.

Vonn, 41, is set to try her luck in the women’s downhill race on Sunday

“I’m pretty confident that she can still pull off this dream,” Vonn’s head coach Chris Knight told The Associated Press on Wednesday. “I’ve got no doubts in my mind that this is going to be OK.”

Knight’s comments came one day after Vonn said that she’s not interested in discussing surgery at the moment.

“It’s not really on my radar screen right now. The Olympics are the only thing that I’m thinking about,” she said. “Every day my knee’s gotten better. And every day we’re discussing with a full medical team, doctors, physios, everyone, to make sure we’re doing everything to make sure I am making smart and safe decisions.”

Diggs knows a thing or two about a torn ACL. His lone season with the Houston Texans in 2024 was cut short by the same injury.

“Prayers to her. I hope the surgery does go well when she does have it,” Diggs said Wednesday of Vonn. “Anybody who has torn an ACL, it’s kind of a weird injury. You can run after about two weeks when the swelling goes down. … As long as she doesn’t have to (decelerate), she should be fine.”

Like Vonn, Diggs has a big day ahead on Sunday. Diggs and the Patriots will face the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl LX in Santa Clara, Calif.

As for Vonn, she must complete at least one official training run to take part in the Sunday downhill. Vonn is no stranger to the mountain. She collected 12 of her 84 World Cup victories there, the most of any skier.

Vonn earned gold (downhill) and bronze (Super-G) medals at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics and a bronze medal in the downhill at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games.

Vonn retired after the 2019 world championships due to injuries. She subsequently received a partial replacement of her right knee and launched a comeback late in 2024 with the Olympics in her sights.

She has won the downhill twice this winter and leads the World Cup standings in the discipline and was considered a favorite to win the gold medal in the event in Italy.

–Field Level Media

The Washington Post shuttered its venerable sports department on Wednesday, part of a larger layoff involving one-third of the newspaper’s staff.

“The Washington Post is taking a number of difficult but decisive actions today for our future, in what amounts to a significant restructuring across the company,” a Post spokesperson said in a statement. “These steps are designed to strengthen our footing and sharpen our focus on delivering the distinctive journalism that sets The Post apart and, most importantly, engages our customers.”

Executive editor Matt Murray announced the changes in a video conference with employees.

The move comes with Post reporters already on site covering Super Bowl LX and the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics.

“It’s like somebody taking a hammer to my heart,” Sally Jenkins, who wrote a Post sports column until she left the paper last summer, told The Ringer. “It’s not just broken. It’s broken into about 20 pieces, one for every single one of my close friends there.”

Some sports reporters are expected to move into other roles, but the exact number was not reported.

A skeleton crew will continue to produce what Murray described as features about sports as a “cultural and societal phenomenon.”

The Post has undergone repeated changes, downsizings and reinventions since Amazon chief Jeff Bezos purchased the paper in 2013.

In addition to cutting the sports pages, the Post is reducing its international footprint, making the Metro section more “nimble and focused” and eliminating the Books section.

–Field Level Media

The Houston Astros have avoided going to arbitration with All-Star infielder Isaac Paredes, announcing a new one-year deal with a club option for the 2027 season on Tuesday.

The terms of the contract weren’t announced by the team but Paredes is set to receive a $9.35 million salary, according to multiple reports. That reported salary would fall directly between the $9.95 million Paredes requested and the $8.75 the team offered in the pre-arbitration filing, per MLB.com.

Paredes, who turns 27 later this month, is coming off his second consecutive All-Star season in his first year in Houston. He hit .254 and had a .352 on-base percentage with 20 home runs, 15 doubles and 53 RBIs in 102 games, missing two months late in the season with a hamstring injury.

He’s played on four teams in six major league seasons, previously making stints with the Detroit Tigers (2020-21), Tampa Bay Rays (2022-24) and Chicago Cubs (2024) along with the Astros. He also was an All-Star for the Tampa Bay Rays in 2024 before he was traded to Chicago shortly before the trade deadline.

In 566 career games, Paredes is a .237 hitter with 92 homers, 287 RBIs, 387 strikeouts and 246 walks.

–Field Level Media