American skier Lindsey Vonn, who crashed seconds into her downhill race at the 2026 Winter Olympics, said on Monday that surgery saved her leg from amputation and that she is finally out of the hospital as she continues to recover.
"I'm finally well enough to move to a hotel. It's not home yet, but it's a huge step!" she posted on Instagram.
In a video message describing her injuries, Vonn credited her surgeon, Dr. Tom Hackett, for saving her leg from being amputated and said he performed a fasciectomy — a surgery that "filleted" her leg open.
Vonn said she had a complex tibia fracture and other fractures, and that "everything was in pieces." She also had compartment syndrome, which the Cleveland Clinic describes as a painful buildup of pressure around muscles.
She also said she broke her right ankle, had a blood transfusion and was in a wheelchair.
"It has been quite the journey and by far the most extreme and painful and challenging injury I've ever faced in my entire life, times 100," she said.
She said she has spent nearly two weeks lying in a hospital and was "almost completely immobile."
"Now I will focus on rehab and progressing from a wheelchair to crutches in a few weeks," she wrote. "It will take around a year for all of the bones to heal and then I will decide if I want to take out all the metal or not, and then go back into surgery and finally fix my ACL."
U.S. skier Lindsey Vonn lies in a hospital bed, after she crashed during the Women's Downhill, in Treviso, Italy, in this picture obtained from social media on February 11, 2026.
@lindseyvonn via Instagram/via REUTERS
The 41-year-old American decided to compete in the Olympics despite rupturing her left ACL in a prior crash during a World Cup event in the Swiss Alps. She lost control in her Olympic race after appearing to clip a flag marking the side of the course, flew sideways through the air, and hit her head on the ground. She was responsive but did not get up. Medical personnel put her on a stretcher and airlifted her from the course.
She said she has no regrets and that she'd "rather go down swinging than not try at all."
Haley Ott contributed to this report.
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