The decorated alpine skier’s injury was much more severe than was initially reported
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Legendary Olympic skier Lindsey Vonn clipped a flag and crashed just seconds into what could be final Olympic run. She was airlifted for further medical attention. (Handout / Handout / Getty Images)
Alpine skier Lindsey Vonn opened up about the surgery that “saved” her leg following her terrifying crash at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan.
The three-time gold medalist for Team USA broke her left leg when she crashed during the women’s downhill competition earlier this month. Vonn has been providing regular updates on her recovery on social media. In a video shared on Monday, she explained her numerous injuries and the surgery that allowed her to avoid an amputation.
“Basically, I had a complex tibia fracture. I also fractured my fibular head, my tibial plateau — just kind of everything was in pieces,” she said. “And the reason why it was so complex was because I had compartment syndrome, and compartment syndrome is when you have so much trauma to one area of your body that there’s too much blood and it gets stuck and it basically crushes everything in the compartment. So all the muscle and nerves and tendons, it all kind of dies.”
Vonn said the quick thinking of Dr. Tom Hackett helped her avoid the worst outcome.
“Dr. Tom Hackett saved my leg. He saved my leg from being amputated. He did what’s called a fasciotomy, where he cut open, like, both sides of my leg — kind of filleted it open, so to speak — let it breathe, and he saved me,” she said.
Lindsey Vonn is out of the hospital 2 weeks after her crash in the Winter Olympics 🙏
Vonn says she ‘almost had to have her leg amputated’ due to compartment syndrome – a condition where increased pressure within the muscles restricts blood flow
(Via @lindseyvonn) pic.twitter.com/DWMSlvjHBJ
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) February 23, 2026
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The 41-year-old had already retired from skiing once due to injuries. She made the decision to return to the world stage in 2019, following a full knee replacement. Just days before the 2026 Winter Olympics, Vonn tore her ACL in a crash at a World Cup downhill event in France. She opted to delay surgery on the ligament to compete in her final Olympics.
Vonn said Hackett was only present at the Olympics because of her decision to compete with the injury.
“If I hadn’t had done that, Tom wouldn’t have been there [and he] wouldn’t have been able to save my leg,” she said.
