Lindsey Vonn is not asking for any sympathy after undergoing her fourth surgery following her catastrophic 2026 Winter Olympics crash.
“Surgery went well today!” Thankfully I will be able to finally go back to the US! Once I’m back I will give you more updates and info about my injury… But until then, as I sit here in my bed reflecting, I have a few thoughts I’d like to share…” Vonn, 41, wrote via Instagram on Saturday, February 14, along with a video of the Olympian skiing.
“I have been reading a lot 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 instead it gives you strength to keep fighting, because that is what I am doing and that is what I will continue to do. Always.”
Vonn added, “When I think back on my crash, I didn’t stand in the starting gate unaware of the potential 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 are the strongest person in the world, the mountain always holds the cards.”
Team USA supporters and fans across the world have been following Vonn’s road to the 2026 Winter Olympics after she announced her return to professional 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 as well as skiing today, I have determined I am capable of competing in the Olympic Downhill on Sunday,” Vonn said on February 1, noting she planned to race even without her ACL in tact. “Of course I will still need to do one training run, as is required to race on Sunday, but… I am confident in my body’s ability to perform. Despite my injuries my knee is stable, I do not have swelling and my muscles are firing and reacting as they should.”
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,” a statement released by the Ca’ Foncello hospital said at the time.
“I was willing to risk and push and sacrifice for something I knew I was absolutely capable of doing,” Vonn continued on Saturday. “I will always take the risk of crashing while giving it my all, rather not ski to my potential and have regret. I never want to cross [a] finish line and say, ‘what if?’ And to be perfectly honest, I was stronger physically in that moment than I have been often in the past. Certainly stronger than I was when I ended [my] career in 2019 where I got a bronze medal in the World Championships.”
Vonn added, “And mentally… Mentally I was perfect. Clear, focused, hungry, aggressive yet completely calm… just as I had practiced over the past few months when I was on the podium in every downhill this season. 2 wins and leading the standings… that was all a test to prepare me for the Olympics. Mentally, I was more ready than I had ever been.”
Vonn concluded her post 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 don’t have regrets and the love I have for skiing remains. I am still looking forward to the moment when I can stand on the top of the mountain once more. And I will.”
