American ski icon Lindsey Vonn is revealing that her terrifying crash at the 2026 Winter Games almost resulted in the loss of her left leg.
The accident occurred during the women’s downhill on Feb. 8 in Cortina d’Ampezzo at the 2026 Winter Olympics. Just seconds into her run, Vonn lost control and was airlifted off the mountain. The fall left her with a complex fracture of her tibia, along with breaks to her fibular head and tibial plateau in the same leg. She also fractured her right ankle. What made the injury especially dangerous was the onset of compartment syndrome — a condition triggered by severe trauma in which pressure from internal bleeding and swelling builds inside the muscle. Without swift treatment, it can permanently damage tissue and cut off blood supply.
Vonn explained in a video posted to social media:“I’ll give you the full rundown. Basically I had a complex tibia fracture, also fractured my fibular head, my tibular plateau, just kind of everything was in pieces. And the reason why it was so complex was because I had compartment syndrome.”
To prevent irreversible damage, orthopedic surgeon Dr. Tom Hackett performed an emergency fasciotomy, a procedure that relieves pressure by surgically opening the affected area. Vonn credited him with saving her limb: “Dr. Tom Hackett saved my life. He saved my leg from being amputated. He did what’s called a fasciotomy, where he cut open both sides of my leg and kind of filleted it open so to speak, let it breathe, and he saved me.” Hackett had been in Italy because Vonn had torn her left ACL just before the Games — an earlier injury that unexpectedly proved critical. Vonn shared: “I always talk about everything happens for a reason, but if I hadn’t torn my ACL — which I would have torn anyways with this crash — if I hadn’t have done that, Tom wouldn’t have been there. He wouldn’t have been able to save my leg. So I feel very lucky and grateful for him, for the six-hour surgery he put in on Wednesday to rebuild it, which went amazingly well.”
Vonn spent two weeks hospitalized, with multiple surgeries leading to significant blood loss, lowering her hemoglobin levels and requiring a transfusion. She described the pain as overwhelming and admitted recovery has been far from easy. “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.
Now discharged, Vonn is confined to a wheelchair and expects to rely on crutches for several weeks. Despite the brutal ending to her Olympic run, she says she has “no regrets” about competing. “I wish it ended differently, but I’d rather go down swinging than not try at all,” she said. “This was just one blip on the radar.”
At 41, Vonn’s competitive future remains uncertain. Still, her legacy is firmly intact. A three-time Olympic medalist — including downhill gold in 2010 — she owns 84 World Cup victories, second only among Americans to Mikaela Shiffrin. For now, her focus is simple: heal and fight forward. “I can’t tell you how painful it’s been,” Vonn said. “It’s been really hard. I’m going to do the best I can with this one. It really knocked me down, but I’m like Rocky. I’m just going to get back up.”
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