Lindsey Vonn remains unsure of future after Olympic crash: ‘I’m still in survival mode’

Lindsey Vonn says she is still recovering physically and emotionally from her crash at the Winter Olympics and does not know when, or if, she will race again.

The 41-year-old has undergone eight surgeries after suffering a complex left leg fracture – one that nearly led to a leg amputation – in the women’s downhill in February. She needs at least one more operation to repair a torn ACL in the same knee.

“I just don’t want to jump to any conclusions or even speculate on what I might do,” Vonn said. “I may retire. I may never race again and that would be completely fine, but I’m not in a position emotionally to make that decision at this point.”

Vonn crashed just 13 seconds into February’s Olympic downhill race, ending a season in which she led the World Cup downhill standings and hadn’t finished worse than fourth in any race.

She has returned from an assortment of injuries before – she has a titanium implant in her right knee – but she says this one was different. The eight surgeries are just one shy of the total she had for all the others combined.

“It’s a much different injury in that way, again, like the severity of the injury and understanding that I could have lost my leg and how bad things were,” Vonn said. “I can deal with a lot of pain, but this was so extreme. It’s not even been in the universe of pain with this injury as what I’ve had before.”

Vonn says she is making progress in and out of the gym, though not as quickly as she would like. She no longer uses a wheelchair and is on crutches, and next week will be able to begin walking short distances unaided.

Vonn said she hasn’t spoken to her doctor about what a return to skiing would look like.

“Regardless, nothing would really happen until [the 2027-28 season] because I still have one more surgery left to take out the metal and to replace my ACL. That still needs to happen,” Vonn said. “Once I get my ACL fixed, then that’s another six months, so I have at least I would say a year and a half ahead of me before I could really be back to 100%, even just training in the gym.”

After her Olympic crash her father said her career would be over if it were up to him.

“He means the best,” Vonn said. “He forgot the cardinal rule with me is that if you don’t want me to do something, you shouldn’t tell me I can’t. Tell me I can’t and I’ll prove you wrong.”

For now, Vonn said she’s focused on getting her leg healthy. Only after that’s done can she start thinking about a career that may or may not be over.

“I’m still, like I said, in survival mode that I just want to get through this phase and be able to assess where I am in my life,” said Vonn, whose 84 World Cup wins are second-most among women, trailing only her US teammate Mikaela Shiffrin (110). “And take count of what I’ve done and take count of what could be and make decisions in a much better place than where I am now.