Tragic Details About Lindsey Vonn's Health Struggles Are So Sad

When Lindsey Vonn announced she would be competing in the 2026 Winter Olympic Games in Milan and Cortina, Italy, she was met with mixed reactions. While many were excited to hear that the American ski legend was gearing up to compete again, others were concerned about the dangers of competing at her age after a dramatic saga of injuries. At 41, Vonn made history as the oldest woman to compete in Alpine ski racing at the Olympics. This landmark achievement came shortly after she made history as the oldest athlete to win an Alpine World Cup race at St. Moritz, Switzerland, in December 2025.

Public fears about her participation multiplied after she ruptured her ACL during a World Cup race just a week before the Winter Olympics, but the three-time Olympic medalist entered the games with enthusiasm. As the 13th skier in the Alpine downhill competition on February 8, she suffered a brutal crash just 13 seconds into her run. The extent of Vonn's injuries meant her journey to recovery would be a long and emotional one, but the tragic details about Vonn and her health struggles make her no stranger to such challenges.

Vonn has suffered over a dozen significant injuries throughout her record-breaking career leading up to her headlining 2026 injuries. Her first major incident occurred in February 2007, when she sprained her right ACL during a practice session. Then she incurred two injuries in 2009, severing a tendon in her right thumb while opening a champagne bottle at a world championship in Sweden in February, followed by microfractures in her left arm in a giant slalom crash in Austria in December. Almost exactly a year later in February 2010, she suffered another finger injury when she broke her right pinkie in another giant slalom crash at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

In 2013, Lindsey Vonn suffered a string of major injuries leading into the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. That February, she incurred the most significant injury in her career up to that point. At 28 years old, Vonn experienced a brutal crash in the Super-G world championship in Austria, where she had to be medevaced off the mountain by helicopter. In the crash, she tore her right ACL and MCL and fractured her lateral tibial plateau in her right leg. Despite her ruptured knee, which was projected to take six to eight months to heal, Vonn's eyes were still set on the Olympic prize. "I can assure you that I will work as hard as humanly possible to be ready to represent my country next year in Sochi," Vonn said in a statement to the Associated Press (via ESPN).

That November, she tore her right ACL in training at the U.S. Ski Team Speed Center at Copper Mountain, Colorado. She tore part of a reconstructed ligament in the knee that was still recovering from the surgery in February. The doctors then insisted that she wear a protective knee brace while skiing. At the time, the media had questioned whether the injury might destroy her chances at the 2014 Olympics.

Her hopes of a 2014 Olympic run were completely shattered in December 2013, when she crashed again in the World Cup downhill in Val d'Isère, France. She sprained her right MCL, revealing to the public that she had a complete ACL tear. On January 7, 2014, she announced she had to withdraw from the Winter Olympics in Sochi. "The reality has sunk in that my knee is just too unstable to compete at this level," she admitted on Facebook.

In 2016, Lindsey Vonn had another bad year plagued by injury. In February 2016, she yet again started the year with a major crash in the FIS Ski World Cup Super-G event in Soldeu-el Tarter, Andorra. 50 seconds into her run, she crashed and had to be evacuated by a ski patrol sled. Despite sustaining multiple fractures in her left knee, Vonn was still hoping to ski immediately after the crash. "Got caught in the soft snow today and crashed pretty hard. X-rays showed I have a hairline fracture in my left knee and will get an MRI on Monday," Vonn posted on Instagram on the day of the crash. "I will wait and see how I feel tomorrow to decide if I can race. Will keep you updated."

That November, she experienced another major crash during training in Copper Mountain, Colorado. She severely fractured her humerus in her right arm and quickly underwent surgery. "While I am beyond frustrated by this latest setback, at least my knees are ok and I will return to the slopes as soon as possible, as I always do!" she said in a Facebook post that included photos of her X-rays from the injury. While she was able to take the injury in stride, she told NBC Sports later that month, "It was by far the most painful injury I have ever had by a long shot. I could feel my bones hitting together and hitting the nerve. It was brutal."

In October 2018, Lindsey Vonn shocked the sports world by announcing she was going to retire after the 2018-2019 World Cup season. "Physically, I've gotten to the point where it doesn't make sense," Vonn admitted to NBC Sports. The following month, she unfortunately experienced another major crash while training for her final season. This time, she tore her lateral collateral ligament and her meniscus in her left knee, along with suffering three tibial plateau fractures. The injury forced her to skip the World Cup ski competitions in Lake Louise, Canada. 

Shortly after, in January 2019, she sustained an impact injury to her peroneal nerve right before retiring. She acknowledged that her frequent injuries would have life-long implications. "There will be long-term effects — I will have arthritis, I will have joint pain, I will have a lot of pain in a lot of different places, but I still want to finish on my own terms," she told CNN. The accumulation of injuries eventually led to a partial right knee replacement in April 2024 by orthopedic surgeon Dr. Martin W. Roche from the Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) in Florida. The high-tech surgery, which utilized a MAKO robotic-arm-assisted surgery system, replaced parts of her knee with titanium implants. 

The successful surgery allowed her to miraculously come out of retirement in November 2024, finally returning to the U.S. Ski Team for the 2024–2025 alpine ski season. She revealed to The New York Times that she was no longer worried about chasing records and medals. "With what I've done in my career, I'm thankful I can be in this position. I don't have any pressure. It's just me and the mountain like it was in the beginning."

Just a week before Lindsey Vonn made history as the oldest woman to ski in the Olympics, she tore her ACL during a World Cup race in Crans-Montana, Switzerland. Her decision to still ski in the Olympics despite the fresh injury was controversial, but she thought it was worth the risk to do what she loves and push the boundaries of the sport. The day before her last Olympic run, she shared an emotional Instagram post regarding her decision to compete without fear or regret. "I will stand in the starting gate tomorrow and know I am strong," she said. "Know that I believe in myself. Know that the odds are stacked against me with my age, no ACL, and a titanium knee — but I know that I still believe."

Moments into her highly anticipated Olympic run, she made a tight right-hand turn that caused her right arm to clip a gate. She crashed to the ground as screams could be heard on the live broadcast. The crowd was silent as staff tended to Vonn for over 10 minutes, forcing the race to be delayed. Unable to move, she had to be medavaced off the mountain by helicopter and transported to Codivilla Hospital in Cortina, Italy. Her injury was unclear during the live event, leaving everyone to speculate about it before her medical evaluation. 

In her first Instagram post after the crash, she informed everyone that she had a "complex tibia fracture" that would "require multiple surgeries to fix properly." Vonn reiterated that she still had no regrets despite the outcome of her Olympic run. She appeared optimistic about her upcoming surgeries and eager to start the healing process.

After undergoing four surgeries on her left leg in the span of a week in Cortina's Codivilla Hospital, Lindsey Vonn was able to fly back to the United States despite being immobile. She was lifted onto a private plane in a stretcher while being tended to by medical personnel. "My leg is still in pieces...but I'm finally coming home!" Vonn said in an Instagram post. "My injury was a lot more severe than just a broken leg. I'm still wrapping my head around it, what it means and the road ahead... but I'm going to give you more detail in the coming days."

In a bombshell Instagram post on February 23, 2026, Vonn revealed her health issues to the public. She announced her leg was almost amputated due to compartment syndrome, which is when there's so much blood in a specific area that it crushes the nerves and tendons. She credited orthopedic surgeon Dr. Tom Hackett, who was only there on standby because of her previous ACL rupture a week before, for saving her leg by performing a fasciotomy. Another post was dedicated to the remarkable medical team who also performed Vonn's past surgeries. She further shared that she had received a blood transfusion and had broken her right ankle, revealing it would take a year for all her bones to heal. 

With a long road to recovery ahead, Vonn revealed that she was focusing on her health and therapy. Her long list of injuries is a testament to her resilience, determination, and passion for competitive skiing despite pain and setbacks. Even after everything she had endured, Vonn stated that she was eagerly awaiting the day she "can stand on the top of the mountain once more."