Lindsey Vonn Releases Statement Detailing Olympic Crash Injury & Surgery to Come

Lindsey Vonn has now spoken out about the nature of the injuries she sustained while competing at the 2026 Milano-Cortina Olympics. Vonn, who had just days before sustained an injury to her ACL in her left leg, crashed just 13 seconds into her race in the women’s alpine skiing downhill event over the weekend.

On Instagram Monday (February 9), she shared a photo of herself on the slopes shortly before the crash and detailed how she fell and what she’s facing in the way of recovery.

“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 5 inches. 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. My ACL and past injuries had nothing to do with my crash whatsoever,” she wrote. “Unfortunately, I sustained a complex tibia fracture that is currently stable but will require multiple surgeries to fix properly.”

She went on to write that, in spite of the pain, she felt “incredible” to compete. “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 the also the beauty of life; we can try. I tried. I dreamt. I jumped. I hope if you take away anything from my journey it’s that you all have the courage to dare greatly. Life is too short not to take chances on yourself. Because the only failure in life is not trying. I believe in you, just as you believed in me. ❤️LV.”

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In response to her post, Vonn received an outpouring of support from commenters.

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Reese Witherspoon, for example, wrote, “LV, I’m so inspired by your courage to always challenge yourself. You are & will always be a true Champion.” And fellow Olympian Ilona Maher wrote, “I’m proud of you for doing that. You are a lesson for all women that we are more than our age and people’s perceptions.”

Vonn previously won the gold medal for the sport in 2010 and bronze in 2018. She was hoping to compete in a comeback victory at the 2026 Olympics before her injury.