41-year-old American ski racing legend, Lindsey Vonn, is recovering in a U.S. hospital and after undergoing her fifth surgery to repair extensive injuries sustained in a crash during the women’s downhill at the 2026 Winter Olympics, the former Olympic champion said Friday.
“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 but Dr Hackett did an incredible job.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. Will explain the injury and what it all means soon.” -Lindsey Vonn
Vonn, who came out of retirement to compete in what was to be her final Olympic Games, broke her left leg in a high-speed crash February 8th just 13 seconds into the downhill race and was airlifted from the course. The injury followed an earlier rupture of her ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) suffered days before the Games.
Vonn already had four surgeries in Italy to stabilize the complex tibia fracture injury before being flown back to the United States, where the fifth operation was performed. She said her injury was more severe than she initially realized and promised to share more details about her recovery soon.
We wish Lindsey well on her recovery and will be sure to update as more information becomes available.
