Lindsey Vonn has said her third operation on the leg she broke during the Olympic downhill was successful, describing the meaning of success as “completely different” from before. The 41-year-old American skier posted an update on Instagram, including photographs of herself giving a thumbs up from a hospital bed with a metal frame attached to her leg.
“I had my 3rd surgery today and it was successful. Success today has a completely different meaning than it did a few days ago,” Vonn wrote. “I’m making progress and while it is slow, I know I’ll be ok.” Vonn crashed 13 seconds into her run at the Milan Cortina Games on Sunday and was airlifted off the course by helicopter. She said on Monday that she had suffered a “complex tibia fracture that is currently stable but will require multiple surgeries to fix properly.”
The crash came just nine days after Vonn ruptured the anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee during another fall. Her participation had already been one of the feelgood stories of the Games, following her return to racing in December 2024 after nearly six years of retirement and a knee replacement procedure in April of that year.
Vonn’s father, Alan Kildow, told the Associated Press that his daughter is surrounded by family “at all times” at the hospital in Treviso where she is being treated. In her Instagram message, Vonn thanked the medical staff, friends and family who have supported her, and said she was hugely grateful for the outpouring of love from people around the world. She also congratulated her teammates and all the Team USA athletes “who are out there inspiring me and giving me something to cheer for.”
Vonn, who holds the record of 12 World Cup victories in Cortina, was the top speed racer this season entering the Olympics. She won two downhills and finished on the podium in seven of the eight World Cup races she completed, with a fourth place in the other.
