VAIL, Colo. (AP) — American skier Lindsey Vonn says she practically misplaced her left leg following a frightening crash within the ladies’s downhill on the Milan Cortina Olympics.
Vonn shared in an Instagram post on Monday that her accidents went far past the advanced tibia fracture within the leg she initially revealed after clipping a gate and crusing off target simply 13 seconds into her run on Feb. 8.
The 41-year-old Vonn mentioned the trauma from the crash led to compartment syndrome within the leg. Compartment syndrome entails extreme stress build up inside a muscle, both from bleeding or swelling. Excessive stress restricts blood move and may result in everlasting harm if not handled shortly.
“When you’ve a lot trauma to 1 space of your physique in order that there’s an excessive amount of blood and it will get caught and it principally crushes all the pieces,” Vonn mentioned.
Vonn credited Dr. Tom Hackett, an orthopedic surgeon who works for Vonn and Crew USA, for conducting a fasciotomy to salvage her leg.
“He filleted it open (and) let it breathe, and he saved me,” she mentioned.
Vonn famous that Hackett was solely in Cortina as a result of she was competing after tearing the ACL in her left knee shortly earlier than the Olympics.
“If I hadn’t had completed that, Tom wouldn’t have been there (and he) wouldn’t have been in a position to save my leg,” she mentioned.
Vonn, who mentioned she has been discharged from the hospital, additionally broke her proper ankle within the crash.
“It has been fairly the journey and by far probably the most excessive and painful and difficult harm I’ve ever confronted in my whole life instances 100,” she mentioned.
Vonn underwent a number of surgical procedures throughout a week-long keep at a hospital in Treviso, Italy, following the accident. She credited each Hackett and Italian docs for his or her efforts to restore her leg, which she mentioned was “in items” following the accident.
She says she struggled with ache and blood loss within the speedy aftermath and needed to obtain a transfusion to assist elevate her hemoglobin ranges.
Vonn, who mentioned she is “very a lot motionless,” is confined to a wheelchair in the intervening time, however has turned her consideration to her rehab and is working her means towards with the ability to use crutches. She estimated it’ll take a few yr for the bones in her left leg to heal. Solely after that can docs be capable to go in and restore the torn ACL, which performed no position within the crash.
“It’s going to be a protracted highway,” she mentioned. “I at all times battle and we maintain going.”
Vonn confused she had “no regrets” about her comeback following a six-year retirement or her resolution to ski on the Olympics regardless of the knee harm.
“I want it had ended in a different way, however I’d reasonably go down swinging than not strive in any respect,” mentioned Vonn, who was atop the World Cup sequence rankings within the downhill when she arrived in Cortina. “I believe what I used to be in a position to obtain was greater than anybody anticipated to start with. … This yr was unbelievable and so price all the pieces.”
She likened her accidents to “one blip on the radar.” She didn’t go into any type of element about her aggressive profession, although her father, Alan Kildow, told The Associated Press shortly after the accident he would love her to retire.
“Life is life and we have now to take the punches that come,” Vonn mentioned. “Going to do the very best I can with this one. It actually knocked me down. However I’m like Rocky. I’ll simply maintain getting again up.”
AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
