Lindsey Vonn shares update after fourth surgery after Olympics crash
Lindsey Vonn asks for no sympathy after undergoing her fourth surgery following her catastrophic crash at the 2026 Winter Olympics.
“The operation went well today!” Fortunately, I can finally return to the US! Once I get back, I’ll give you more updates and information about my injury… But until then, as I sit here in my bed thinking, I have a few thoughts I’d like to share…” Vonn, 41, wrote via Instagram on Saturday, Feb. 14, along with a video of her Olympic skiing.
“I have read many messages and comments saying that what happened to me makes them sad,” Vonn continued. “Please don’t be sad. I welcome empathy, love and support with an open heart, but please no sadness and sympathy. I hope instead it gives you the strength to keep fighting because that’s what I do and that’s what I will continue to do. Always.”
Vonn added: “When I think back to my crash, I didn’t stand in the starting gate without being aware of the possible consequences. I knew what I was doing. I chose to take a risk. Every skier in that starting gate took the same risk. Because even if you’re the strongest person in the world, the mountain always holds the cards.”
Team USA supporters and fans around the world are following Vonn’s path to the 2026 Winter Olympics after she announced her return to professional skiing. (Vonn retired in 2019 after the World Championships in Sweden, but announced her comeback in 2024.)
During a World Cup race in Switzerland on January 30, Vonn completely tore her ACL – just nine days before the Olympic competition.
“After extensive consultation with doctors, intensive therapy, physical tests and skiing today, I have determined that I am fit to compete in the Olympic Downhill on Sunday,” Vonn said on February 1, noting that she planned to race even without her ACL intact. “Of course I will have to do one more training run as required to race on Sunday, but… I am confident in my body’s ability to perform. Despite my injuries, my knee is stable, I have no swelling and my muscles are firing and responding as they should.”
Vonn took to the slopes for her women’s downhill on Sunday, February 8. Unfortunately, disaster struck 13 seconds into her run when she crashed and was ultimately flown off the course to an Italian hospital. Vonn subsequently underwent “orthopedic surgery to stabilize a fracture in her left leg” and was “treated by a multidisciplinary team,” according to a statement from Ca’ Foncello Hospital at the time.
“I was willing to take risks, push and sacrifice for something I knew I was absolutely capable of,” Vonn continued on Saturday. “I will always take the risk of crashing and at the same time give everything, prefer not to ski to my potential and regret it. I never want to cross [a] finish and say, “What if?” And to be completely honest, I was physically stronger at that moment than I have often been in the past. Definitely stronger than I was when I finished [my] career in 2019, where I won a bronze medal at the World Championships.”
Lindsey Vonn was taken off the course after a crash in Switzerland just days before she was set to make her miraculous return to the Olympics. Vonn, 41, lost control during her World Cup race in Crans-Montana, Switzerland, on Friday, January 30, eventually becoming tangled in the course’s safety nets. After receiving medical attention […]
Vonn added: “And mentally… Mentally I was perfect. Clear, focused, hungry, aggressive and yet completely calm… just like I had practiced for the past few months when I was on the podium in every downhill this season. Two wins and at the top of the leaderboard… that was all a test to prepare me for the Olympics. Mentally I was more ready than ever before.”
Vonn concluded her message by pointing out that “just because I was ready” for the 2026 Winter Olympics “didn’t guarantee me anything.”
“Nothing in life is guaranteed. That’s the gamble of chasing your dreams. You might fall, but if you don’t try, you’ll never know,” she added. “So please, don’t feel sad. The ride was worth the fall. When I close my eyes at night, I have no regrets and the love I have for skiing remains. I still look forward to the moment when I can stand on the top of the mountain again. And I will.”
