Lindsey Vonn has a complex tibia fracture that will “require multiple surgeries to fix properly,” Vonn said in an Instagram post Monday.
The post is Vonn’s first public statement since her gruesome crash during Sunday’s women’s downhill skiing final at the Milan Cortina Games. Vonn had to be airlifted off the course after crashing in the first 20 seconds of her run.
“While yesterday did not end the way I had hoped, and despite the intense physical pain it caused, I have no regrets,” Vonn wrote. “Standing in the starting gate (Sunday) was an incredible feeling that I will never forget. Knowing I stood there having a chance to win was a victory in and of itself.”
“I also knew that racing was a risk. It always was and always will be an incredibly dangerous sport.”
Vonn, 41, had completely ruptured her ACL and suffered meniscus damage on the same leg in her final World Cup race before the Olympics on Jan. 30. She had decided to race on it anyway, but made it clear the ACL didn’t cause this crash.
“I was simply 5 inches too tight on my line when my right arm hooked inside of the gate, twisting me and result(ing) in my crash,” Vonn wrote.
Vonn was airlifted and treated nearby in the Ca’ Foncello Hospital in the northern Italian city of Treviso. She underwent surgery later that day and was in stable condition, U.S. Skiing as well as the hospital said in statements.
Vonn has had a history of serious injuries, so much so that it forced her to initially retire in 2019. A partial knee replacement in April 2024 helped her start her comeback to the sport and to compete in these Olympics.
“Similar to ski racing, we take risks in life. We dream. We love. We jump. And sometimes we fall. Sometimes our hearts are broken. Sometimes we don’t achieve the dreams we know we could have. But that is also the beauty of life; we can try,” Vonn wrote.
“I tried. I dreamt. I jumped.”
–Field Level Media
