CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy (AP) — American ski racer Lindsey Vonn revealed Monday that she narrowly avoided amputation of her left leg following a crash during the women’s downhill race at the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics on February 8.
The 41-year-old Vonn, who came out of retirement to compete in the Games, sustained a complex tibia fracture in her left leg after clipping a gate seconds into her run. Yet, the initial injury triggered a cascade of complications, including compartment syndrome, a condition where excessive pressure builds up within a muscle, restricting blood flow and potentially leading to permanent damage.
“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 explained in an Instagram post. She credited orthopedic surgeon Dr. Tom Hackett with performing a fasciotomy – a surgical procedure to relieve the pressure – that ultimately saved her leg.
“He filleted it open (and) let it breathe, and he saved me,” Vonn said.
Remarkably, Dr. Hackett was present at the scene due to Vonn’s prior injury – a complete rupture of her left ACL during a World Cup event in the Swiss Alps just a week before the Olympics. Vonn had initially decided to compete despite the torn ligament, relying on a knee brace for support.
“If I hadn’t torn my ACL … Tom wouldn’t have been there. He wouldn’t have been able to save my leg,” Vonn stated.
Vonn also sustained a broken right ankle in the crash and underwent multiple surgeries during a week-long hospital stay in Treviso, Italy. She described the experience as “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 also required a blood transfusion to address blood loss.
Currently confined to a wheelchair, Vonn is focused on her rehabilitation, with the goal of eventually using crutches. She anticipates approximately one year for her tibia to fully heal before surgeons can address the ACL tear, which she emphasized did not contribute to the Olympic crash.
Despite the severity of her injuries, Vonn expressed no regrets about her comeback or her decision to compete in the Olympics with a compromised knee. “I wish it had ended differently, but I’d rather go down swinging than not try at all,” she said. “I think what I was able to achieve was more than anyone expected to initiate with. … This year was incredible and so worth everything.”
Vonn remains in recovery, with the long-term implications for her athletic career uncertain. The U.S. Ski Team has not yet commented on her future participation in competitions.
