02/23/26 02:10:00
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02/23 14:08 CST Lindsey Vonn says surgery saved her from having her left leg
amputated following Olympic crash
Lindsey Vonn says surgery saved her from having her left leg amputated
following Olympic crash
VAIL, Colo. (AP) --- American skier Lindsey Vonn says she nearly lost her left
leg following a frightening crash in the women's downhill at the Milan Cortina
Olympics.
Vonn shared in an Instagram post on Monday that her injuries went far beyond
the complex tibia fracture in the leg she initially revealed after clipping a
gate and sailing off course just 13 seconds into her run on Feb. 8.
The 41-year-old Vonn said the trauma from the crash led to compartment syndrome
in the leg. Compartment syndrome involves excessive pressure building up inside
a muscle, either from bleeding or swelling. High pressure restricts blood flow
and can lead to permanent injury if not treated quickly.
"When you have so much trauma to one area of your body so that there's too much
blood and it gets stuck and it basically crushes everything," Vonn said.
Vonn credited Dr. Tom Hackett, an orthopedic surgeon who works for Vonn and
Team USA, for conducting a fasciotomy to salvage her leg.
"He filleted it open (and) let it breathe, and he saved me," she said.
Vonn noted that Hackett was only in Cortina because she was competing after
tearing the ACL in her left knee shortly before the Olympics.
"If I hadn't had done that, Tom wouldn't have been there (and he) wouldn't have
been able to save my leg," she said.
Vonn, who said she has been discharged from the hospital, also broke her right
ankle in the crash.
"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.
Vonn underwent multiple surgeries during a week-long stay at a hospital in
Treviso, Italy, following the accident. She credited both Hackett and Italian
doctors for their efforts to repair her leg, which she said was "in pieces"
following the accident.
She says she struggled with pain and blood loss in the immediate aftermath and
had to receive a transfusion to help raise her hemoglobin levels.
Vonn, who said she is "very much immobile," is confined to a wheelchair at the
moment, but has turned her attention to her rehab and is working her way toward
being able to use crutches. She estimated it will take about a year for the
bones in her left leg to heal. Only after that will doctors be able to go in
and repair the torn ACL, which played no role in the crash.
"It's going to be a long road," she said. "I always fight and we keep going."
Vonn stressed she had "no regrets" about her comeback following a six-year
retirement or her decision to ski at the Olympics despite the knee injury.
"I wish it had ended differently, but I'd rather go down swinging than not try
at all," said Vonn, who was atop the World Cup series rankings in the downhill
when she arrived in Cortina. "I think what I was able to achieve was more than
anyone expected to begin with. ... This year was incredible and so worth
everything."
She likened her injuries to "one blip on the radar." She did not go into any
sort of detail about her competitive career, though her father, Alan Kildow,
told The Associated Press shortly after the accident he would like her to
retire.
"Life is life and we have to take the punches that come," Vonn said. "Going to
do the best I can with this one. It really knocked me down. But I'm like Rocky.
I'll just keep getting back up."
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AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
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