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Lindsey Vonn underwent surgery “to stabilize a fracture reported in her left leg,” officials at an Italian hospital said Sunday, hours after the Olympian crashed hard during her run.
Vonn raced through a torn ACL for a medal-winning attempt in the women’s downhill. She lost control a few seconds into her run and crashed in the first sector. She writhed in pain as doctors attended to her.
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In this photo taken from video provided by Olympic Broadcasting Services, OBS, USA’s Lindsey Vonn lies on the track after crashing during a women’s downhill skiing event at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (Olympic Broadcasting Services via AP)
A helicopter was sent to get Vonn off the mountain. She was taken to a clinic in Cortina and then transferred to a hospital in Treviso.
Ca’Foncello Hospital released a statement about Vonn, saying she was being “treated by a multidisciplinary team. The U.S. Ski Team said Vonn was “in stable condition and in good hands with a team of American and Italian doctors.”
“She’ll be OK, but it’s going to be a bit of a process,” US Ski and Snowboard sports director Anouk Patty said. “This sport is brutal and people need to remember when they see (that) these athletes are throwing themselves down a mountain and going really, really fast.”
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Lindsey Vonn of the United States is lifted away after a crash during a women’s downhill skiing event at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Breezy Johnson picked up the gold medal in the event, earning Team USA’s first at the 2026 Milan Cortina Games.
“I don’t claim to know what she’s going through, but I know what it’s like to be here, to fight for the Olympics and to have this track burn you and see those dreams die,” said Johnson, who missed the 2022 Games with a knee injury. “I can’t imagine the pain she’s going through, and it’s not the physical pain – we can deal with physical pain – but the emotional pain is something else.”
International Skiing and Snowboarding Federation president Johan Eliasch called Vonn’s crash “tragic, but that’s skiing.”
In this photo taken from video provided by Olympic Broadcasting Services, OBS, USA’s Lindsey Vonn prepares to be evacuated after crashing during a women’s downhill skiing event at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (Olympic Broadcasting Services via AP)
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“I can only say thank you for what she has done for our sport,” he said, “because this race has been the talk of the game and it has put our sport in the best possible light.”
