Lindsey Vonn, the 41-year-old American skier, suffered a severe leg injury during the women's downhill at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, on February 8. She has undergone multiple surgeries and shared updates on her recovery from the hospital. Addressing critics, Vonn emphasized her achievements and resilience in a social media post.
Lindsey Vonn crashed into a gate just 13 seconds into her run in the women's downhill event at the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics on February 8 in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy. The incident, which occurred despite her torn ACL in her left knee and partial titanium replacement in her right knee, resulted in a complex tibial fracture in her left leg. Her skis failed to release during the fall, prompting safety concerns within the skiing community.
Vonn remained in Italy for initial treatment, undergoing at least four surgeries over a week before flying back to the United States last weekend. On Friday, February 20, she had another surgery on her badly broken left leg, which lasted more than six hours and involved numerous plates and screws. In an Instagram post, Vonn wrote, “Made it through surgery... It took a bit more than 6 hours to complete. As you can see, it required a lot of plates and screws to put back together. With the extent of the trauma, I’ve been struggling a bit post op and have not yet been able to be discharged from the hospital just yet. Almost there. Baby steps.” She shared an X-ray on X, captioning it, “I’m bionic for real now.”
The day after her latest surgery, on Saturday, February 21, Vonn posted on Instagram to her “haters,” reflecting on her season. She highlighted becoming the oldest downhill skiing World Cup winner at 41 with a victory in St. Moritz, Switzerland, in December. Addressing criticism that she was selfish for not yielding her Olympic spot after her initial ACL injury, Vonn stated, “One thing that stung was when people said I was selfish and should give my Olympic spot to someone else.” She added, “It wasn’t all for nothing… it was everything... But I did it. I came back. I won. I showed up and did what most thought was impossible at my age with a partial knee replacement.” Concluding, she wrote, “It’s not impossible until it’s done. I didn’t reach my ultimate goal…. But I still did a lot. Thank you to those who believed!”
Vonn, a 2010 Olympic gold medalist, expressed no regrets about her comeback attempt despite not medaling.
