Lindsey Vonn will not be asking for any sympathy after undergoing her fourth surgery following her catastrophic 2026 Winter Olympics crash.
“Surgery went well today!” Thankfully I’ll have the opportunity to finally return to the US! Once I’m back I provides you with more updates and info about my injury… But until then, as I sit here in my bed reflecting, I even have a couple of thoughts I’d prefer to share…” Vonn, 41, wrote via Instagram on Saturday, February 14, together with a video of the Olympian skiing.
“I even have been reading plenty of messages and comments saying that what has happened to me makes them sad,” Vonn continued. “Please, don’t be sad. Empathy, love and support I welcome with an open heart, but please not sadness and sympathy. I hope as a substitute it gives you strength to maintain fighting, because that’s what I’m doing and that’s what I’ll proceed to do. All the time.”
Vonn added, “When I believe back on my crash, I didn’t stand within the starting gate unaware of the potential consequences. I knew what I used to be doing. I selected to take a risk. Every skier in that starting gate took the identical risk. Because even if you happen to are the strongest person on this planet, the mountain all the time holds the cards.”
Team USA supporters and fans internationally have been following Vonn’s road to the 2026 Winter Olympics after she announced her return to skilled skiing. (Vonn retired in 2019 following the World Championships in Sweden, but announced her comeback in 2024.)
While competing at a World Cup race in Switzerland on January 30, Vonn tore her ACL completely — just nine days before Olympic competition.
“After extensive consultations with doctors, intense therapy, physical tests in addition to skiing today, I even have determined I’m able to competing within the Olympic Downhill on Sunday,” Vonn said on February 1, noting she planned to race even without her ACL in tact. “After all I’ll still must do one training run, as is required to race on Sunday, but… I’m confident in my body’s ability to perform. Despite my injuries my knee is stable, I wouldn’t have swelling and my muscles are firing and reacting as they need to.”
Vonn took the slope on Sunday, February 8, for her women’s downhill run. Unfortunately, tragedy struck 13 seconds into her run when she crashed and was eventually airlifted from the course to an Italian hospital. Vonn subsequently “underwent an orthopedic operation to stabilize a fracture reported in her left leg” and was “treated by a multidisciplinary team,” an announcement released by the Ca’ Foncello hospital said on the time.
“I used to be willing to risk and push and sacrifice for something I knew I used to be absolutely able to doing,” Vonn continued on Saturday. “I’ll all the time take the chance of crashing while giving it my all, quite not ski to my potential and have regret. I never wish to cross [a] finish line and say, ‘what if?’ And to be perfectly honest, I used to be stronger physically in that moment than I even have been often up to now. Actually stronger than I used to be once I ended [my] profession in 2019 where I got a bronze medal within the World Championships.”
Lindsey Vonn was airlifted off the course after a crash in Switzerland, just days before she is scheduled 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 ending up tangled within the course’s safety nets. After receiving medical assistance […]
Vonn added, “And mentally… Mentally I used to be perfect. Clear, focused, hungry, aggressive yet completely calm… just as I had practiced over the past few months once I was on the rostrum in every downhill this season. 2 wins and leading the standings… that was all a test to organize me for the Olympics. Mentally, I used to be more ready than I had ever been.”
Vonn concluded her post by mentioning that “simply because I used to be 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 may fall but if you happen to don’t try you’ll never know,” she added. “So please, don’t feel sad. The ride was definitely worth the fall. Once I close my eyes at night I don’t have regrets and the love I even have for skiing stays. I’m still looking forward to the moment once I can stand on the highest of the mountain over again. And I’ll.”