Lindsey Vonn Shares Health Update After Terrifying Olympics Crash

Originally posted on The Spun | By Tzvi Machlin | Last updated Feb 10, 2026 11:17 AM ET

Team USA skiing star Lindsey Vonn tried to fight through a torn ACL in the Olympics but saw her run end with a crash on the alpine ski women's downhill and a leg fracture.

Vonn had to be airlifted off the mountain but is thankfully recovering.

Taking to Instagram on Monday, Vonn admitted that it wasn't the way she wanted her Olympic career to end. She explained what happened to cause her injury and expects multiple surgeries to fix.

"Yesterday my Olympic dream did not finish the way I dreamt it would. It wasn’t a story book ending or a fairy tail, it was just life. I dared to dream and had worked so hard to achieve it. Because in Downhill ski racing the difference between a strategic line and a catastrophic injury can be as small as 5 inches," she wrote.

"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. My ACL and past injuries had nothing to do with my crash whatsoever.

"Unfortunately, I sustained a complex tibia fracture that is currently stable but will require multiple surgeries to fix properly."

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A message for future generations

Vonn said that she tried and ultimately came up short in the Olympics, but said that she hopes she can inspire people to try their hardest in everything in life moving forward.

"While yesterday did not end the way I had hoped, and despite the intense physical pain it caused, I have no regrets. 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. I also knew that racing was a risk. It always was and always will be an incredibly dangerous sport.

"And similar to ski racing, we take risks in life. We dream. We love. We jump. And sometimes we fall. Sometimes our hearts are broken. Sometimes we don’t achieve the dreams we know we could have. But that is the also the beauty of life; we can try.

"I tried. I dreamt. I jumped.

"I hope if you take away anything from my journey it’s that you all have the courage to dare greatly. Life is too short not to take chances on yourself. Because the only failure in life is not trying.

"I believe in you, just as you believed in me.

"❤️LV"

Feb 3, 2026; Cortina d'Ampezzo, ITALY; Lindsey Vonn attends a press conference at a press conference at the Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium in preparation for the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games. Mandatory Credit: Leonhard Foeger/Reuters via Imagn Images© Leonhard Foeger/Reuters via Imagn Images

If this truly is the end for Lindsey Vonn's Olympic career, she still leaves as one of the all-time greats. She has an Olympic gold medal and two bronze medals, along with two world championships

In the FIS Alpine Ski World Cup she has 84 first-place finishes and another 61 trips to the podium.

Have we seen the last of Lindsey Vonn representing Team USA?

This article first appeared on The Spun and was syndicated with permission.

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