Lindsey Vonn: Could the American skier make a return after nightmare crash: 'You just never know what will happen'
Before the Winter Olympics this year had even started Lindsey Vonn had ruptured her ACL; She attempted to compete regardless and in her first event in Italy the American skier suffered a sickening accident; It was a complex leg break that needed multiple surgeries.
Last Updated: 26/03/26 11:18pm
Lindsey Vonn’s Winter Olympics earlier this year came to an end quickly in a disturbing crash that left her with a severely damaged leg.
Before the Olympics had even started Vonn had ruptured her ACL. She attempted to compete regardless and in her first event in Italy the American skier suffered a sickening accident.
It was a complex leg break that needed multiple surgeries.
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At 41 years old, it looked like the former Olympic gold medallist's career had come to an end.
But Vonn has not ruled out potentially returning to the sport.
"I don't like to close the door on anything because you just never know what's going to happen," Vonn told Vanity Fair. "It's hard to tell with this injury.
"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."
The American has previously revealed she had a complex tibia fracture, a fractured fibular head and a tibial plateau fracture, which caused compartment syndrome.
The five-time Olympian credited her surgeon for preventing her from needing an amputation.
"The reason why it was so complex was because I had compartment syndrome, which is when you have so much trauma to one area of your body that there's too much blood and it gets stuck," Vonn said previously.
"It basically crushes everything in the compartment, all the muscle and nerves and tendon dies.
"Dr Tom Hackett saved my leg. He opened both sides of my leg and basically filleted it open, let it breathe and saved me.
"I always say everything happens for a reason, and if I hadn't already torn my ACL, Tom wouldn't have been there, he wouldn't have been able to save my leg."