Lindsey Vonn nearly lost leg after crash at 2026 Winter Olympics

After spending the last two weeks in the hospital, American skier Lindsey Vonn is on the road to recovery from the devastating leg injury she sustained in the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics. It will be a lengthy process for Vonn, who revealed Monday that the surgery she underwent in Italy saved her from having her left leg amputated.

Vonn crashed during the women's downhill event at the Winter Games and was airlifted off the mountain with a complex tibia fracture. She said after her release from the hospital that she also suffered a broken ankle. 

"It has been quite the journey and by far the most extreme and painful and challenging injury I've ever faced in my entire life, times 100," Vonn said in a video posted to Instagram.

Orthopedic surgeon Dr. Tom Hackett performed a fasciotomy on Vonn's leg to prevent her from losing the badly injured limb. Vonn said she had compartment syndrome, which is the building of excessive pressure inside a muscle due to bleeding or swelling. Compartment syndrome causes the death of muscle, nerves and tendons. Dr. Hackett cut Vonn's leg open on two sides to relieve the pressure and treat the compartment syndrome in addition to the procedures he performed to reconstruct the broken bones.

The leg fractures came just weeks after Vonn also tore her ACL in the final World Cup event leading up to the Olympics. 

"I always talk about everything happens for a reason, but if I hadn't torn my ACL -- which I would have torn anyways with this crash -- if I hadn't have done that, Tom wouldn't have been there," Vonn said. "He wouldn't have been able to save my leg. So I feel very lucky and grateful for him, for the six-hour surgery he put in on Wednesday to rebuild it, which went amazingly well."

Vonn said her hospital stay lasted longer than anticipated because she had low hemoglobin from the blood loss that occurred during her surgeries. She described the pain as being "a little bit out of control" but said a blood transfusion helped her turn the corner in her immediate recovery.

It will take some time before Vonn is able to move without the use of a wheelchair. From there, she said she anticipates being on crutches for at least two months.

"I can't tell you how painful it's been," Vonn said. "It's been really hard. It was definitely not the way I wanted to end my Olympics, but it's been really inspiring to watch my teammates. Everyone has just been incredible. Watching Team USA dominate has been really uplifting. I'm really proud of all you guys."

In the immediate wake of her injury, Vonn insisted that she had "no regrets" for pushing through her torn ACL to compete in the Winter Olympics. It was an unfathomable comeback story for an all-time legendary American winter athlete that, unfortunately, ended in heartbreak. But while the Milano Cortina Games did not go according to plan for the 41-year-old, her career remains unforgettable.

"I wish it ended differently, but I'd rather go down swinging than not try at all," Vonn said. "And I think what I was able to achieve was more than anyone expected to begin with. This year was incredible and so worth everything. I worked really hard to get back, and it was so worth it. This was just one blip on the radar."