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Lindsey Vonn Shares Surgery Saved Her From Leg Amputation After Olympics Crash
Lindsey Vonn is facing an uphill battle.
Less than two weeks after a crash at the 2026 Winter Olympics that left her with a broken left tibia, the alpine ski racer is sharing the more difficult, mental load she’s experiencing as she focuses on her healing journey.
“Today was a hard day… my physical battle began the second I got hurt but the mental battle started today,” Lindsey wrote on X Feb. 24. “It hit me like a ton of bricks.”
“It’s a battle I’m used to because I’ve done it so many times,” the 41-year-old continued. “I have always learned from every injury. Each one has made me a better and stronger person in different ways… but the battle of the mind can be dark and hard and unrelenting.”
Lindsey said that someone called her a “master at the psychological game of life,” and while she’s not sure if that is fully true, she is prepared for the tough healing journey ahead.
“I do know hard days are coming,” she wrote, “but I will find a way back to the top of the mountain of life.”
Since her crash—which resulted in a longer than expected hospital stay due to low hemoglobin from blood loss and her surgeries—the four-time Olympian has been candid about the toll the injuries and her recovery have taken on her.
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“I was really struggling,” Lindsey said in a Feb. 23 Instagram video. “Pain was a little bit out of control, and I had to have a blood transfusion, and that helped me a lot. I turned the corner, and now I am out."
She also shared that she would be wheelchair-bound for the time being, adding, “It's been really hard, and it was definitely not the way I wanted to end my Olympics, but it's been really inspiring to watch my teammates.”
But there was certainly a bright side, as Lindsay said her injury could have actually been much worse as she experienced compartment syndrome.
Photo by Michel Cottin/Agence Zoom/Getty Images
“Compartment syndrome is when you have so much trauma to one area of your body that there's too much blood and it gets stuck,” she explained, “and it basically crushes everything in the compartment so all the muscle and nerves and tendons—it all kind of dies. And Dr. Tom Hackett saved my leg. He saved my leg from being amputated.”
“I always talk about everything happens for a reason,” Lindsey added, “but if I hadn't torn my ACL, which I would have torn anyways with this crash, if I hadn't done that, Tom wouldn't have been there, he wouldn't have been able to save my leg.”
While Lindsey’s time in the 2026 Olympics was cut short, keep reading for more athletes who made history during the Winter Games.
Sarah Stier/Getty Images
Johannes Høsflot Klæbo
The Norwegian cross-country skier earned six gold medals at the 2026 Olympics, bringing his career total to 11 and making him the most-awarded gold medalist in Winter Games history.
Jiang Qiming/China News Service/VCG via Getty Images
Jordan Stolz
The American speed skater didn't just earn gold in the men's 1000m, he also set a new Olympic record with a time of 1:06.28.
(Days later, he set yet another Olympic speed skating record.)
Hu Huhu/Xinhua via Getty Images
Pinheiro Braathen
The ski racer danced his way into the history books when he won Olympic gold. Not only did the medal mark Brazil's first Winter Games medal in history, but it was also the first for all of South America.
Ian MacNicol/Getty Images
Chloe Kim
With her silver medal win in the women's snowboarding halfpipe, the Team USA athelete became the first woman to win three consecutive medals in the event.
She also became the first female snowboarder to land a cab double 1080 in an Olympic halfpipe final.
Bruce Bennett/Getty Images
Laila Edwards
The 22-year-old is the first Black woman to play for Team USA women's hockey at the Olympics.
Alex Slitz/Getty Images
Regina Martínez Lorenzo
The cross-country skier is the first woman to represent Mexico in the sport at the Olympics.
François-Xavier MARIT / AFP via Getty Images
Cory Thiesse & Korey Dropkin
The Americans earned the Unites States' first medal in mixed doubles curling with their silver medal finish.
Al Bello/Getty Images
Nicole Burger
The skeleton athlete is the first South African woman to represent her country in the event at the Olympics.
Federica Vanzetta/Nordic Focus/Getty Images
Ben Ogden
The Team USA cross-country skier ended a 50-year medal drought for the United States in the men’s sprint classical race when he picked up a silver medal.
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