Lindsey Vonn was aiming for Olympic gold last month in Italy, but a crash led to five surgeries that saved her leg from being amputated.

In one of her first runs at the Milan Cortina Olympics, fresh off a ruptured ACL she suffered a week before the Games, Vonn fell, resulting in a compound fracture of her leg.

Vonn also needed a blood transfusion due to the amount of blood lost during the surgeries, including one that required “a lot of plates and screws” and took nearly six hours.

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Lindsey Vonn speeds down the course during alpine skiing women’s downhill training at the Winter Olympics in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, on Feb. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)

But in an interview with Vanity Fair, Vonn left the door open to getting back onto the mountain.

“I don’t like to close the door on anything, because you just never know what’s going to happen,” Vonn said. “It’s hard to tell with this injury. It’s so f—ed up.”

Vonn initially retired in 2019 but announced nearly six years later that she was making a comeback. She made her way onto the Olympic team and found herself back in regular form.

Lindsey Vonn crashes during the women’s downhill at the Winter Olympics on Feb. 8, 2026, in Italy. (IOC via Getty Images)

FORMER OLYMPIC STAR’S SON DIES AFTER GETTING CAUGHT UP IN AVALANCHE

That’s why she’s not ready to officially call it quits.

“I really feel like that was a horrible last run to end my career on. I only made it 13 seconds. But they were a really good 13 seconds,” she added.

Vonn’s skis failed to pop off during her crash, likely making the injury worse than it needed to be. Vanity Fair noted that Vonn “spends nearly all of her time in rehab,” including two hours of physical therapy and another two hours in a hyperbaric chamber, all before she even gets an official workout in.

Lindsey Vonn is airlifted away after a crash during an alpine ski women’s downhill race, at the Winter Olympics, in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

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If Vonn decides to call it, she will still go down as one of the most decorated skiers of all time, winning an Olympic gold in 2010 and two World Championships while also owning 84 World Cup victories.

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Lindsey Vonn has finally left hospital after her horrific leg break but the American skiing great has a very long road to recovery ahead of her.

In a lengthy post to Instagram on Monday morning, the 41-year-old revealed the devastating extent of her injuries and that doctors saved her from losing her leg after crashing at the Winter Olympics in Italy.

Vonn said she is in a wheelchair and will be for the foreseeable future. She fought back tears at times in a video where she explained how much pain she has already had to overcome.

‘I had a complex tibia fracture, I also fractured my fibia head and the reason it was so complex was because I had compartment syndrome,’ Vonn explained. ‘Compartment syndrome is when you have so much trauma to one area that there is too much blood and it gets stuck. It basically crushes everything – muscles, nerves, tendons, it dies.

‘Dr Tom Hackett saved my leg from being amputated. He did what is called a fasciotomy, he cut open both sides of my leg and let it breathe and he saved me. 

‘It will take around a year for all of the bones to heal and then I will decide if I want to take out all the metal or not, and then go back into surgery and finally fix my ACL. Life is life, we have to take the punches as they come.’ 

Lindsey Vonn is out of hospital but is only at the start of her recovery from a broken leg

Vonn, 41, says she is immobile and in a wheelchair while her leg begins to heal

Vonn tore her ACL in a crash before the Winter Olympics, something she said was actually a good thing because if that hadn’t happened, Dr Hackett would not have been on hand to help her.

‘If I hadn’t torn my ACL, which I would have done anyways in this crash, Doctor Tom Hackett wouldn’t have been there,’ Vonn said. ‘He wouldn’t have been able to save my leg.

‘He saved my leg from being amputated. I always talk about everything happening for a reason… I feel very lucky and grateful for him, for this six-hour surgery.’

Vonn revealed she also broke her ankle in the crash and that she needed a vital blood transfusion after one of her fifth surgery to combat low haemoglobin.

‘I was in the hospital a little longer than I hoped because I had very low haemogloin from the blood loss from all the surgeries,’ Vonn added. ‘I was really struggling, the pain was a little bit out of control and I had to have a blood transfusion.

‘That helped me a lot and I turned the corner and now I am out. I am in a wheelchar right now, I am very much immobile and I will be in a wheelchair for a while because I also broke my right ankle.

‘I hope I can be on crutches in a little bit but we will see.’ 

Vonn crashed during the women’s downhill final on February 8 and was airlifted to hospital by helicopter.

Lindsey Vonn has undergone five surgeries since hurting her leg at the Winter Olympics

Remarkably, Vonn once again insisted that she has no regrets over her comeback 

Vonn added as a caption to her video: ‘I hope I explained my injury well enough. I’m not a doctor so if I don’t explain something perfectly please forgive me. 

‘When the injury happened the situation was quite challenging in many ways but in the end, the situation was brought back into control. Again, thank you Dr Tom Hackett.

‘It will be a long road but I’ll get there. At least I’m out of the hospital. Love you all.’ 

Last week, Vonn shared an astonishing X-ray showing dozens of metal pins placed inside her leg to hold it together. 

‘I’m bionic for real now,’ she joked. 

Vonn’s race-torn body already contained titanium implants after she underwent a reconstruction in her right knee back in 2024. 

She launched her second career comeback shortly after the reconstruction, ending a five-year retirement, which reaped its reward in the form of victory at the 2025-2026 FIS Alpine Ski World Cup in December. 

The 41-year-old shared an X-ray of her surgically-repaired leg to social media on Friday 

Medical crews arrived to tend to Vonn after she remained down on the piste 

Vonn looked to add to that win with a gold at the Winter Olympics but disaster struck just one week before the Games began when she tore her ACL in a crash at Crans-Montana in Switzerland. 

Despite clear medical concerns, Vonn attempted to compete on the torn ligament at the Games but crashed just 13 seconds into her downhill final run. 

She lost control over the opening traverse after cutting the line too tight and clipping the gate and was spun around in the air.

Vonn was heard screaming after the crash as she was surrounded by medical personnel before she was strapped to a gurney and flown away.

By OLIVER SALT, US ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR

Published: 18:14 EST, 16 February 2026 | Updated: 01:15 EST, 17 February 2026

Lindsey Vonn’s sister insists the Olympic icon is ‘super strong’ despite her gruesome leg break after battling through a ‘rough’ week in hospital.

Vonn, 41, underwent four surgeries in Italy after fracturing her complex tibia in a horror skiing crash at the Winter Olympics.

The serious damage suffered to her leg requires multiple procedures, while one specialist has warned that some similar injuries even require amputation.

Following her older sister’s fourth op on Saturday, and release from hospital on Sunday, Karin Kildow has told TMZ Sports that she is now taking it ‘one day at a time.’

‘It’s been a rough one, been in the hospital a lot,’ Kildow, 37, admitted. ‘Just one day at a time. She’s super strong, but there’s a lot of surgeries and things. We’re working on getting her back to the U.S.’

On Monday night, Vonn confirmed she had returned home and paid tribute to hospital staff in Europe. ‘[I] haven’t stood on my feet in over a week… been in a hospital bed immobile since my race,’ she posted on social media. 

Lindsey Vonn’s sister insists the Olympic icon is ‘super strong’ despite her gruesome leg break

The 41-year-old Vonn has undergone four surgeries after a horror crash at the Winter Olympics

‘And although I’m not yet able to stand, being back on home soil feels amazing… huge thank you to everyone in Italy for taking good care of me.’ 

Critics on social media have questioned Vonn’s decision to compete in the women’s downhill race on the day after suffering a torn ACL in the lead-up to it.

But Karin says the family are not paying any attention to the negativity online.

‘You know what? Everyone’s gonna have their thing to say, I think… but she’s strong and she did it,’ she concluded.

Earlier on Monday, Vonn shared a behind-the-scenes video from hospital on Instagram, which shows her undergoing exercises, having her hair washed and being fed dinner while stepping up her recovery.

She also included the caption: ‘Thankful for friends, family, my team and all the medical staff that are getting me back to myself…. I’m slowly coming back to life, back to basics and the simple things in life that mean the most. Smile. Laugh. Love.

‘My sister @kar_inthegarage made this video and it instantly made me cry and made my heart full. Love you guys’.

Vonn lost control last Sunday over the opening traverse after cutting the line too tight and was spun around in the air.

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She shared a behind-the-scenes video of the recovery process in hospital on Monday

The skiing legend suffered a broken left leg after she crashed in the women’s downhill race 

She was heard screaming out after the crash as she was surrounded by medical personnel before she was strapped to a gurney and flown away by a helicopter.

Last week, a defiant Vonn also suggested that she will one day ski again despite fears that she could lose her left leg.

In an emotional post, the iconic skier added that she had no regrets about competing in the downhill event – she had torn her ACL in her left knee days before the crash, something she insists had no influence over what happened – and remarkably vowed to ski again one day in the future.

While she surely meant it in a recreational sense rather than trying once again to compete at the highest level, she said: ‘Please, don’t feel sad. The ride was worth the fall. When I close my eyes at night I don’t have regrets and the love I have for skiing remains.

‘I am still looking forward to the moment when I can stand on the top of the mountain once more. And I will.’

Lindsey Vonn’s horror crash in the women’s downhill ski event at the Winter Olympics was caused when she caught a gate with her right side, one photograph has shown. 

The former Olympic champion, 41, has been left in intensive care following the incident on Sunday, although it is understood that she was transferred there for the sake of extra privacy, rather than any greater medical necessity. The US team have also stated the 2010 gold medallist is ‘stable’.

Vonn had been competing in Cortina following a six-year hiatus from the sport and only nine days on from rupturing the ACL in her left knee in a training run crash ahead of the Games.

But Vonn was just 13 seconds into her run and had rounded the second corner when she appeared to lose control.

The 41-year-old sped over a hill and careered into one of the plastic markers on the side of the track before hitting the ground. Her right leg appeared to hit the ground first, as a cloud of powder engulfed the American. Vonn then tumbled forwards again, appearing to smash her shoulder into the ground, before coming to a halt on the slope. 

The Cortina crowd fell silent as medical crews arrived to attend to Vonn, who was later airlifted off the mountain. 

One photo has shown the key detail behind Lindsey Vonn’s horror crash at the Winter Olympics

As Vonn sped down the mountain, she caught a ski gate with her right side before she fell

Distressing scenes then erupted, with Vonn, whose skis had not detached from her boots, seen wincing in pain as she lay on her back in the snow. The American was also heard crying out in agony as the medics placed her onto a stretcher. 

And, a photo from AP, moments before Vonn’s crash, shows the skier careering into the ski gate while she was in the air and speeding down the mountain. 

Her right arm appeared to be on the wrong side of the gate and the force of her body could be seen in how the ski gate had been knocked, with it seemingly snapping.

Vonn went tumbling seconds after colliding into the gate, with her body rotating 180 degrees before her heavy crash.  

Organisers then began to play background music over the skier’s cries as she was lifted onto a stretcher.

An update provided by the US Ski and Snowboard Team on X later explained that Vonn had sustained an injury but was in a stable condition, before she then had surgery on a left-leg fracture. 

‘Update: Lindsey Vonn sustained an injury, but is in stable condition and in good hands with a team of American and Italian physicians,’ a spokesperson had said.

The 41-year-old had defied the impossible by coming back to compete after rupturing her ACL prior to the Games and had completed multiple training runs in the build-up to Sunday’s event. 

While concerns have arisen over whether the 2010 Olympic champion was taking a risk in entering the competition – having undergone a reconstruction in her right knee back in 2024 and rupturing her ACL before the tournament – Vonn had made the decision to compete in Sunday’s downhill final. 

Vonn was airlifted to hospital after her crash, with it revealed that she had broken her leg

Vonn, a former Olympic champion, was competing in Cortina following a six-year hiatus from the sport

She had posted a time that was 1.39 seconds off the fastest run during a training session on Friday. 

The American, who has won 84 World Cups across multiple alpine skiing events during her glittering career, would improve on that on Saturday, posting a time of one minute and 38 seconds, which was 37 seconds shy of team-mate Breezy Johnson, who went on to claim gold on Sunday. 

As Vonn left the gates on Sunday, her coach was heard shouting, ‘keep charging, keep pushing’.  

The downhill event was subsequently suspended, with other competitors removing their skis at the top of the slope as they waited for Vonn to be evacuated.

BBC pundit and former alpine skier Chemmy Alcott was distressed by the scenes unfolding in Cortina d’Ampezzo. 

‘I feel guilty that I am this emotional,’ Alcott said to the BBC. ‘I just never believed it would end in a clump at the side of the piste, not moving. What we saw was that the top of the piste is really hard for a fit athlete; she just had her right knee. It is brutal, think about her family, her team and herself.

‘We have to be realistic. The risk was really high, the risk she takes when she falls will double that, her body will not be able to take that. There is clapping and there is hope that she would be okay but they have put up some background music because it is uncomfortable.’ 

Lindsey Vonn ‘s defiant bid to win the Winter Olympic downhill at the age of 41, on a rebuilt right knee and a badly injured left knee, ended Sunday in a frightening crash that saw her taken to safety by a rescue helicopter for the second time in nine days.

Vonn lost control within moments of leaving the starting gate, clipping a gate with her right shoulder and pinwheeling down the slope before ending up awkwardly on her back, her skis crisscrossed below her and her screams ringing out soon after medical personnel arrived. She was treated for long, anguished minutes as a hush fell over the crowd waiting far below at the finish line.

She was strapped to a gurney and flown away, possibly ending the skier’s storied career. Her condition was not immediately known, with the U.S. Ski Team saying simply she would be evaluated.

“She’ll be OK, but it’s going to be a bit of a process,” said Anouk Patty, chief of sport for U.S. Ski and Snowboard. “This sport’s brutal and people need to remember when they’re watching (that) these athletes are throwing themselves down a mountain and going really, really fast.”

Breezy Johnson, Vonn’s teammate, became only the second American woman to win the Olympic downhill after Vonn did it 16 years ago. The 30-year-old Johnson held off Emma Aicher of Germany and Italy’s Sofia Goggia on a bittersweet day for the team.

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“I don’t claim to know what she’s going through, but I do know what it is to be here, to be fighting for the Olympics, and to have this course burn you and to watch those dreams die,” said Johnson, whose injury in Cortina in 2022 ruined hopes of sking in the Beijing Olympics. “I can’t imagine the pain that she’s going through and it’s not the physical pain — we can deal with physical pain — but the emotional pain is something else.”

Vonn had family in the stands, including her father, Alan Kildow, who stared down at the ground while his daughter was being treated after just 13 seconds on the course where she holds a record 12 World Cup titles. Others in the crowd, including rapper Snoop Dogg, watched quietly as the star skier was finally taken off the course. Fellow American star Mikaela Shiffrin posted a broken heart emoji on social media.

Vonn’s crash was “tragic, but it’s ski racing,” said Johan Eliasch, president of the International Ski and Snowboard Federation.

“I can only say thank you for what she has done for our sport,” he said, “because this race has been the talk of the games and it’s put our sport in the best possible light.”

All eyes had been on Vonn, the feel-good story heading into the Olympics. She had returned to elite ski racing last season after nearly six years, a remarkable decision given her age but she also had a partial titanium knee replacement in her right knee, too. Many wondered how she would fare as she sought a gold medal to join the one she won in the downhill at the 2010 Vancouver Games.

The four-time overall World Cup champion stunned everyone by being a contender almost immediately. She came to the Olympics as the leader in the World Cup downhill standings and was a gold-medal favorite before her crash in Switzerland nine days ago, when she suffered her latest knee injury. In addition to a ruptured ACL, she also had a bone bruise and meniscus damage.

Still, no one counted her out even then. In truth, she has skied through injuries for three decades at the top of the sport. In 2006, ahead of the Turin Olympics, Vonn took a bad fall during downhill training and went to the hospital. She competed less than 48 hours later, racing in all four events she’d planned, with a top result of seventh in the super-G.

Cortina has had many treasured memories for Vonn beyond the record wins. She is called the queen of Cortina, and the Olympia delle Tofana is a course that had always suited Vonn. She tested out the knee twice in downill training runs over the past three days before the awful crash on Sunday in clear, sunny conditions.

“This would be the best comeback I’ve done so far,” Vonn said before the race. “Definitely the most dramatic.”

News of the crash spread quickly, including to the fan zone down the mountain in Cortina.

“It’s such a huge loss and bummer,” American Megan Gunyou said. “I feel like hearing her story and just like the redemption of her first fall and like fighting to come back to the Olympics this year, I mean, I feel so sad for her.”

&copy 2026 The Canadian Press