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Live sport on SN this weekendFuture hard to see for injured Olympic ski great Vonn
Brian Mahoney • May 1st, 2026 8:30 am
Lindsey Vonn is still smiling and still battling after her Olympic ski crash trauma | Photo: AP
Lindsey Vonn is still recovering physically and emotionally from her frightening crash at the Winter Olympics - and for now, the tough decisions about the future can wait.
The skiing great has undergone eight surgeries after suffering a complex left leg fracture - one that nearly led to a leg amputation - in the downhill in February, and she needs at least one more to repair a torn ACL in that same knee.
So if the 41-year-old races again - and she's not ready to make that decision - a return is at least a year and a half away, she explained on Wednesday.
"I just don't want to jump to any conclusions or even speculate on what I might do," Vonn said.
It's nearly three months since Lindsey Vonn suffered what many felt would be a career-ending crash | Photo: AP
"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."
A return to retirement was an option after a comeback season
Vonn thinks she would have gone back into retirement had she been able to complete a comeback season that rivalled one of the best of her career.
She ended a six-year absence from the sport largely to race at Cortina, Italy, one of her favourite courses, and the venue for the Olympics.
Airlifted off the mountain, Lindsey Vonn felt worse pain than in any previous crash | Photo: AP
But the winner of three Olympic medals, including a downhill gold in 2010, crashed just 13 seconds into the race and suffered a complex tibia fracture, shocking a star-studded crowd and ending a season in which she led the World Cup downhill standings.
She's returned from an assortment of injuries before - she has a titanium implant in her right knee - but this one was different. The pain was different. The eight surgeries are just one shy of the total she had for all the others combined.
"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 is making progress in and out of the gym, though not as quickly as she would like. She has moved beyond a wheelchair and now is on crutches - she is weary of both - and next week will be able to begin walking short distances.
She is able to travel again, making a trip to New York this week to discuss her support for the biopharmaceutical company Invivyd's "Antibodies for Any Body" campaign, and she has an upcoming vacation planned.
Beyond that, the future is hard to see.
Vonn knows there could be risks in a return, and family members don't want her to take them.
It was only a day after her crash, when she was still in the hospital, that her father said her career would be over if it were up to him.
Said Vonn: "He means the best. 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 simply 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.
"I don't want to make a decision now because I think that would be rash and probably too emotional and I don't want to make a mistake, you know?"
- AP
Nico Porteous' sauna story with Lindsey Vonn | Scotty & Izzy
