Kajsa Vickhoff Lie Undergoes Surgery Again as Season Start Comes Into Doubt

Kajsa Vickhoff Lie has had to undergo surgery for a second time after a piece of cartilage in her knee split, throwing the Norwegian speed skier's start to the new season into doubt.

Vickhoff Lie crashed during the season finale in Kvitfjell, suffering a cartilage injury to her left knee. The Norwegian subsequently underwent surgery, but the initial procedure did not fully resolve the problem.

First operation fails to hold

Vickhoff Lie explained the setback to the Norwegian news agency NTB, saying that after three months it became clear the cartilage had not taken hold. Around the end of June and beginning of July, she underwent a follow-up procedure in which the affected cartilage, which had since split, was removed entirely.

Downtime duration still unclear

Vickhoff Lie will need crutches for ten weeks following the latest procedure, which will also restrict her daily activities. It remains unclear whether she will be fit to compete when the new World Cup season opens in Sölden on October 26.

A proven performer in the speed events

The 27-year-old's strongest discipline is the super-G, in which she has reached the World Cup podium seven times. She also claimed bronze at the last two World Championships, underlining her status as one of the most consistent speed skiers on the circuit in recent years.

Her only World Cup victory to date came in the downhill — fittingly, at the same Kvitfjell venue where her latest injury troubles began. In 2023, Vickhoff Lie became the first Norwegian woman to win a World Cup downhill race, a landmark result in a career built on the strength of her speed-discipline skiing.

Kajsa Vickhoff Lie (born 20 June 1998) is a Norwegian World Cup alpine ski racer, representing the club Bærums SK. She specializes in the speed events of downhill and super-G.

Vickhoff Lie made her World Cup debut at age 18 in January 2017, and has competed in four World Championships in 2019, 2021, 2023 and 2025.

She won gold medals in downhill and super-G at the Junior World Championships at Davos in 2018.

Vickhoff Lie was airlifted to hospital after suffering a left leg injury during the women's super-G World Cup race at Val di Fassa, Italy on 28 February 2021.She was thrown off the course after catching an edge and landed awkwardly in the safety nets.

In February 2023, Vickhoff Lie won her first world championships medal, taking bronze in super-G at Méribel, France.[6] Her first World Cup victory came a few weeks later in a downhill at Kvitfjell, Norway. That victory was the first ever for the Norwegian women's team in a World Cup downhill.

In January 2025, Vickhoff Lie placed second in a downhill world cup race in Cortina, Italy.[On 26 January 2025 she placed second in a Super-G world cup race in Garmisch-Patenkirchen.

At consecutive World Championships, Vickhoff Lie shared the bronze medal in super-G; with Cornelia Hütter (Austria) in 2023 and Lauren Macuga (USA) in 2025.

With the countdown to Sölden now underway, Vickhoff Lie and the Norwegian team will be watching her recovery closely in the hope that this second operation, unlike the first, allows her to return to full training in time for the new campaign.