Lindsey Vonn Suffers Season-Ending Injury

Lindsey Vonn's season ends in crash

Lindsey Vonn crashes in Milano Cortina Olympics downhill, suffers complex leg fracture requiring multiple surgeries. The 41-year-old skier leads downhill World Cup standings.

“Yesterday my Olympic dream did not finish the way I dreamt it would. It wasn’t a storybook ending or a ⁠fairy tale...”

Lindsey Vonn, the skiing sensation, suffered a complex leg fracture during the Milano Cortina Olympics downhill race, requiring multiple surgeries. The 41-year-old athlete expressed no regrets about competing, despite the intense physical pain, and clarified that her previous ACL rupture and past injuries weren't linked to the crash. Vonn's U.S. teammate, Breezy Johnson, took home the gold medal.

Vonn, known for her fearless approach to skiing, wrote on Instagram, “I dared to dream and had worked so hard to achieve it. Because in downhill ski racing, the difference between a strategic line and a catastrophic injury can be as small as five inches.” She's had two operations in Italy to stabilize her fracture and will undergo further surgeries.

Lindsey Vonn, the second-most successful female World Cup skier with 84 wins, has undergone two operations in Italy to stabilize her condition after a horrific crash 13 seconds into the women's downhill event at the Winter Olympics. The 41-year-old skier suffered a complex tibia fracture and was airlifted to Ca' Foncello Hospital in Treviso, where she received treatment from a team of Italian and American physicians.

Vonn had previously torn her ACL in a crash on January 30 and had decided to compete in the Olympics despite the injury. 

She expressed no regrets about her decision, saying, “Yesterday my Olympic dream did not finish the way I dreamt it would. It wasn’t a storybook ending or a ⁠fairy tale, it was just life. I dared to dream and had worked so hard to ‌achieve it. Because in downhill ski racing the difference between a strategic line and a catastrophic injury can be as small as five inches,” Vonn, who ruptured her ACL in a crash at a World Cup race in Switzerland 10 days ago, wrote.

“I was simply five inches too tight on my line when my right arm hooked inside of the gate, twisting me and resulted in my crash. My ACL and past injuries had ‌nothing to do with my crash whatsoever.

“Unfortunately, I sustained a complex tibia fracture that is currently stable but will require multiple surgeries to fix properly. While yesterday did not end the way I had hoped, and despite the intense physical pain it caused, I have ⁠no regrets.”

Lindsey Vonn's crash has sparked a debate about who decides when an injured athlete can compete and the message it sends. The 2010 Olympic champion had aimed to become the oldest Alpine skiing medalist in Olympic history, having won two World Cup downhills and podiumed in three others this year.

Her decision has raised questions about athlete safety and the pressure to perform. “This has to be decided by the individual athlete,” said International Ski Federation president Johan Eliasch.

Vonn's crash highlights the fine line between strategic racing and catastrophic injury. She stated, “In downhill ski racing, the difference between a strategic line and a catastrophic injury can be as small as 5 inches.”

Lindsey Vonn leads the downhill World Cup standings by 144 points, and despite her season-ending injury, she's still in contention for the category's crystal globe. The American skier had felt confident about her chances in Sunday's race, having claimed 12 World Cup wins on the piste.

While Lindsey Vonn competed on a torn ACL, most people with ACL tears need considerable time to heal and rehabilitate before resuming sports and other activities. Learn about treatment and recovery at #OrthoInfo: https://t.co/l4maXkXDQj #OrthoTwitter @aossm1972 @AANAORG pic.twitter.com/rPJAbmxmQm

— AAOS (@AAOS1) February 10, 2026

Vonn hasn't commented on her future plans, leaving fans wondering what's next for the skiing legend.

“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,” she wrote.

“And 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.

“I tried. I dreamt. I jumped.”