Updated

Updated · Yahoo Sports · Jul 16

Jalen Brunson Wins ESPY for Best Championship Performance After 45-Point Finals Clincher

Updated

Updated · Yahoo Sports · Jul 16

Jalen Brunson Wins ESPY for Best Championship Performance After 45-Point Finals Clincher

Q: Lindsey Vonn’s father says her career is over. Will her legacy be her historic comeback or the crash that finally ended it?

Lindsey Vonn’s legacy is far more likely to be her comeback and career-long resilience than the crash itself. The crash at the 2026 Winter Olympics was severe: a torn ACL, broken ankle and fractured tibia, with multiple surgeries and a long recovery ahead. Her father, Alan Kildow, has said he believes it should be the end. But Vonn has not accepted that framing. She has publicly said only she will decide whether she races again, making clear that retirement is not for others to declare. That matters because Vonn’s career has never been defined by a single fall. It has been defined by what came before and after them. Before this latest injury, she had already built one of the greatest alpine skiing résumés in history: 82 World Cup wins before her comeback, three Olympic medals, and records in downhill and super-G. After retiring in 2019 because of accumulated injuries, she returned in 2024 following a partial knee replacement and reached the World Cup podium again in 2025 at age 40, an extraordinary feat in a sport that punishes age and injury. Even this latest crash has been described by Vonn and skiing officials as a racing accident, not evidence that her body simply failed her. She said she was too tight on her line and hooked a gate; FIS president Johan Eliasch called it a freak, “one in 1,000” incident. If this is the end, it will still read less as a collapse than as a final act of defiance from an athlete who kept coming back.

3 articles · Updated · Yahoo Sports · Jul 16

Jalen Brunson added another ESPY on Wednesday, taking Best Championship Performance at New York’s Koch Theater for his 2026 NBA Finals run with the Knicks.
That honor was driven by a 45-point outing in New York’s 94-90 Game 5 title clincher over San Antonio, a performance that sealed both the championship and his Finals MVP-level acclaim.
Across the five-game series, Brunson averaged 32.6 points, 4.6 assists and 4.2 rebounds while shooting 38.9% from 3-point range.
The 29-year-old beat USA women’s hockey goalie Aerin Frankel, USA men’s hockey goalie Connor Hellebuyck and Texas softball pitcher Teagan Kavan, extending a postseason awards haul that has kept the Knicks’ title run in focus.