Lindsey Vonn revealed Monday on Instagram that she suffered a complex tibia fracture during Sunday’s downhill crash — an injury that will require multiple surgeries to fully repair.
Vonn competed in the race despite having torn the ACL in her left knee just nine days earlier in a separate crash. However, she emphasized that the injury played no role in what happened.
“I was simply five inches too tight on my line when my right arm hooked inside the gate, twisting me and causing the crash,” Vonn wrote. “My ACL and past injuries had nothing to do with it whatsoever.”
The 41-year-old Olympic champion said her long-awaited Olympic dream did not end the way she had imagined.
“Yesterday my Olympic dream didn’t finish the way I dreamed it would,” she wrote. “It wasn’t a storybook ending or a fairy tale — it was just life. In downhill ski racing, the difference between a strategic line and a catastrophic injury can be as small as five inches.”
Vonn confirmed that the tibia fracture is currently stable but will still require multiple surgeries. Despite the intense pain and abrupt ending to her Olympic hopes, she said she has no regrets.
“Standing in the starting gate yesterday was an incredible feeling I will never forget,” she wrote. “Knowing I stood there with a chance to win was a victory in itself. I also knew racing was a risk. It always has been and always will be an incredibly dangerous sport.”
Reflecting on the crash, Vonn compared ski racing to life itself — filled with risks, dreams, and setbacks.
“We dream. We love. We jump. And sometimes we fall,” she wrote. “But that is the beauty of life — we can try. I tried. I dreamed. I jumped.”
Vonn said she hopes her journey inspires others to take chances and pursue their goals.
“Life is too short not to take chances on yourself,” she wrote. “The only failure in life is not trying. I believe in you, just as you believed in me.”
Earlier Monday, Vonn’s father, Alan Kildow, told The Associated Press that he believes her racing career is over.
“She’s 41 years old, and this is the end of her career,” Kildow said. “There will be no more ski races for Lindsey Vonn, as long as I have anything to say about it.”
Kildow said he and the rest of Vonn’s family — including a brother and two sisters — have been with her at a hospital in Treviso, Italy, following her helicopter evacuation from the course in Cortina d’Ampezzo on Sunday.
The hospital confirmed late Sunday that Vonn underwent surgery on her left leg, and the U.S. Ski Team said she remains in stable condition. According to her father, Vonn will not return to the Olympics to cheer on teammates or attend any further events.