Lindsey Vonn has disclosed the contents of a private letter she received from Prince William following her devastating crash at the Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics. The American skier suffered multiple leg fractures when she crashed out of the Women's downhill just 13 seconds into her run.
In an interview with Vanity Fair, Vonn shared an extract from the Prince's letter, which read: 'The way you wrote about stepping into the starting gate with courage and no regrets says so much about your resilience.' The 41-year-old also received messages from sporting icons including David Beckham, Jannik Sinner and Tom Brady.
Vonn had been a significant doubt for the Games after sustaining an ACL injury in the build-up, but made a remarkable recovery to compete. She confirmed that the previous injury did not contribute to the crash, which left her airlifted to hospital and crying out in pain. She has since undergone multiple operations and returned home earlier this month, having faced the possibility of amputation.
Reflecting on the incident, Vonn said she does not want to be remembered for the crash. 'I don't want people to hang on this crash and be remembered for that,' she said. 'What I did before the Olympics has never been done before. I was number one in the standings. No one remembers that I was winning.'
When asked about a potential return to skiing, Vonn remained non-committal. 'I don't like to close the door on anything, because you just never know what's going to happen,' she said. 'It's hard to tell with this injury. It's so f***** up. I really feel like that was a horrible last run to end my career on. I only made it 13 seconds. But they were a really good 13 seconds.'
