Lindsey Vonn is preparing to return to the United States for further surgeries after fracturing her tibia in a crash during the Olympic downhill last week, according to Sophie Goldschmidt, CEO of the US Ski and Snowboard Association. Vonn has undergone multiple surgeries in Italy to repair the complex fracture in her left leg.
Goldschmidt said her team's medical staff has been coordinating Vonn's recovery and hopes to accompany her back to the US. 'We're working through all of that at the moment. We've got a great team around helping her and she'll go back to the US for further surgeries,' Goldschmidt said.
Spectators were shocked when Vonn, 41, competing with a torn ACL in her left knee and a partial titanium replacement in her right knee, hooked a gate just 13 seconds into her run, resulting in a spinning crash. Goldschmidt, who was at the course, described the impact: 'The impact, the silence, everyone was just in shock. And you could tell it was a really nasty injury.'
Despite the setback, Vonn expressed no regrets in an Instagram post. 'When I think back on my crash, I didn't stand in the starting gate unaware of the potential consequences. I knew what I was doing. I chose to take a risk,' she wrote. 'Don't feel sad. The ride was worth the fall. When I close my eyes at night I don't have regrets and the love I have for skiing remains. I am still looking forward to the moment when I can stand on the top of the mountain once more. And I will.'
Goldschmidt visited Vonn in hospital and said she is stable and not in pain. She praised Vonn's resilience: 'You learn often more about people during these tough moments than when they're winning.' Vonn's teammate Keely Cashman defended her decision to race, stating the crash was due to hooking her arm on a gate at high speed, not her injuries. 'People that don't know ski racing don't really understand what happened,' Cashman said.
