Olympic Horror: Lindsey Vonn Says Doctors Nearly Amputated Her Leg After Catastrophic Crash

Lindsey Vonn.Credit : Lindsey Vonn/Instagram (2)

Lindsey Vonn is expressing her gratitude amid adversity.

The three-time Olympic medalist, 41, revealed on Monday, Feb. 23 that she nearly lost her left leg following her crash at the 2026 Winter Olympics earlier this month.

In an Instagram update, Vonn shared that the trauma from the crash led to compartment syndrome in her leg, and that her leg nearly had to be amputated.

“After two weeks, I finally made it out of the hospital. 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 one hundred. I’ll give you the full rundown,” she began in a lengthy video update.

She continued, “Basically I had a complex tibia fracture… everything was in pieces.”

Vonn added that she suffered compartment syndrome, where “too much blood” in one area of her leg “crushed” everything including her “muscles, nerves and tendons.”

Compartment syndrome is a painful buildup of pressure around your muscles that restricts the flow of blood, fresh oxygen and nutrients to your muscles and nerves, according to Cleveland Clinic, The medical condition is extremely painful, Vonn said in her video.

Vonn went on to praise her longtime doctor Tom Hackett, and credited him for the reason why she still has both of her limbs today.

“Dr. Tom Hackett saved my leg. He saved my leg from being amputated,” she said, as she became emotional. “He did what’s called a fasciotomy, where he cut open both sides of my leg and kind of filleted it open… let it breath and, um, he saved me.”

On Feb. 8, amid her Olympics comeback, Vonn fractured her tibia after clipping a gate and sailing off course just 13 seconds into her run in the women’s downhill.

In her video, Vonn shared that she will also be in a wheelchair for the next two months, because she also broke her right ankle in the crash.

Prior to her crash at the Olympics, Vonn tore her ACL on Jan. 30 at a World Cup race in Switzerland.

Despite the unfortunate event, the professional athlete looked at it as a sign, because Hackett was present when her latest injury took place.

Lindsay Vonn returns home after Olympics crash.Lindsey Vonn/Instagram

“I always talk about everything happens for a reason, but if I wouldn’t have torn my ACL… Tom wouldn’t have been there,” she says in the video. “He wouldn’t have been able to save my leg. So I feel very lucky and grateful for him.

Vonn noted the surgery took six hours on Wednesday, Feb. 18 to rebuild, said it went “amazingly well” but was still in the hospital longer than she had expected.

“I had low hemoglobin from the blood loss of all the surgeries,” she shared of her extended stay. “I was really struggling, pain was a bit out of control. I had to have a blood transfusion, and that helped me a lot. I turned the corner and now I am out.”

Lindsey Vonn from the United States after crashing during the women’s alpine skiing downhill on Jan. 30, 2026 in Crans-Montana, Switzerland.Thibault de Rivaz/Shutterstock

She added, “I’m going to get right to work on rehab and see what I can do and take it one step at a time like I alway do I can’t tell you how painful it’s been. It’s been really hard and definitely not the way I wanted to end my Olympics.”

The skier added that it’s been “really inspiring” to watch her teammates “dominate” the Winter Games for Team USA. She said it’s been “uplifting” while expressing how proud she is of them.

Lindsey Vonn at the 2026 Winter Olympics.Mattia Ozbot/Getty

The optimistic Vonn ended her video update with reassurance that she’s going to be okay amid her long road to recovery, although it’s difficult to face right now.

“It’s going to be a long road, but I alway fight. I’ll keep going. No regrets,” she said. “I just appreciate all the love and support. It’s been amazing. Overwhelming to an extent. I wish it had ended differently, really, but I’d rather go down swinging than not trying at all.”