American ski great Lindsey Vonn will “require multiple surgeries” after sustaining a tibia fracture, but denies that her previously ruptured ACL was the cause of the crash that ended her Winter Olympic Games.Â
The 41-year-old’s Olympic career ended with a horror crash at the Milano Cortina Games on Sunday.
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Just 13 seconds into her downhill run, Vonn, the 2010 Olympic downhill champion, clipped a gate on the Olimpia delle Tofane and went down.
Vonn was airlifted to hospital as fans, along with fellow competitors, winced at replays of the nasty fall.
On Tuesday, AEDT, Vonn took to social media to confirm she had suffered a fractured tibia and would need to go through an extensive recovery.
“Unfortunately, I sustained a complex tibia fracture that is currently stable but will require multiple surgeries to fix properly,” Vonn said in a statement on social media.
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Vonn’s participation in the Games was contentious, after the US star ruptured the ACL in her right knee at the Crans Montana World Cup in Switzerland just nine days earlier.
But Vonn vowed to compete despite the significant injury, trying to cap off a remarkable career comeback with an Olympic medal.
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Despite competing injured, Vonn declared her ruptured ACL did not contribute to the horror crash that ended her Olympic Games prematurely.
“I was simply 5 inches too tight on my line when my right arm hooked inside of the gate, twisting me, and resulted in my crash,” she said.
“My ACL and past injuries had nothing to do with my crash whatsoever.”
After retiring in 2019, Vonn ended her six-year hiatus in 2025 to return to competitive skiing.
Her comeback was a magnificent success, with the American winning three World Cup events, along with a further four podium placings across downhill and Super G events.
Vonn entered this year’s Games ranked number one in downhill and third in Super G, hoping to cap off her remarkable comeback with an Olympic medal.
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Those dreams were dashed in a painful way, but Vonn said she has no regrets about competing in Italy.
“While yesterday did not end the way I had hoped, and despite the intense physical pain it caused, I have no regrets,” she said.
“Standing in the starting gate yesterday was an incredible feeling that I will never forget. 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.
“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.”