Lindsey Vonn says she suffered ‘complex tibia fracture’ in her Olympic downhill crash

CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy — The 41-year-old Team USA star Lindsey Vonn suffered a “complex tibia fracture” when she crashed in the Olympic downhill race on Sunday, the skier said on Instagram in her first public statement since the race.

Vonn was airlifted by helicopter from the course Sunday and transported to a hospital in Treviso, some two hours from Cortina, to receive initial treatment to stabilize the fracture in her left leg, the hospital told NPR. Multiple additional surgeries will be needed to “fix [her leg] properly,” Vonn said.

“In Downhill ski racing the difference between a strategic line and a catastrophic injury can be as small as 5 inches,” she wrote, posting late Monday night local time in Italy, about 35 hours after her crash. “While yesterday did not end the way I had hoped, and despite the intense physical pain it caused, I have no regrets.”

Vonn did not say whether she would retire from skiing upon recovery.

She was competing in the Olympic race on Sunday despite a tear to her left anterior cruciate ligament, or ACL, suffered just eight days before the race.

Her crash came just 13 seconds into the race. As she passed through a race gate, her right arm caught on the gate and spun her into the air. She landed hard on the snow and bounced down the slope before coming to a rest on her back. As medical crews rushed to her aid, she could be heard screaming in pain.

On Monday, she said the ACL tear had not contributed to her crash. “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,” she wrote. “My ACL and past injuries had nothing to do with my crash whatsoever.”

Vonn initially retired from ski racing in 2019 after a series of injuries to her knees left her convinced she was unable to safely continue to compete.

But a partial knee replacement that placed a titanium implant into her right knee in 2024 allowed her to begin training again in earnest. Remarkably, she returned swiftly to the top of the World Cup downhill standings. This winter, she had won two World Cup races and reached the podium in five others before she tore her ACL.

The audacity and determination of her decision to compete in the Olympics despite her torn ACL had riveted onlookers, both skeptics and believers alike. In the days before the race, Vonn successfully completed two training runs on Cortina’s Olimpia delle Tofane course, turning the race into the most anticipated event of the Olympics.

“Standing in the starting gate yesterday was an incredible feeling that I will never forget. Knowing I stood there having a chance to win was a victory in and of itself,” she said.

NPR’s Ruth Sherlock contributed reporting