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Lindsey Vonn is still in the hospital and still awaiting imaging before knowing the next steps in her medical recovery after competing on a torn ACL at the Olympics last week.
“I finally feel more like myself, but I have a long, long way to go,” Vonn said in an Instagram video.
“Tomorrow I have another surgery and hopefully it goes well. And then I can potentially leave and go back home and then have another surgery. I still don’t know exactly what that entails yet until I get some better imaging.”
Vonn was visibly emotional as she lay in her hospital bed after a “hard few days”.
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American Lindsey Vonn arrives at the alpine skiing finish area for the women’s alpine training at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, Saturday, Feb. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
“That’s kind of where I am right now. I’m just in the hospital, very immobile,” Vonn said.
Her next surgery will be her fourth following her recent injury during an Olympic comeback attempt.
Vonn was arguably the biggest American story going into the Milan Cortina Olympics this year, returning to the Games for the first time in eight years after a temporary retirement. She tore an ACL just a week earlier in a World Cup race, but continued her bid to compete anyway.
Then she crashed 13 seconds into her first race in Milano Cortina after hitting a gate and was lifted off the Olympic track and taken to Ca’ Foncello Hospital in Treviso.
LINDSEY VONN’S FATHER REACTS TO SKISTAR’S HORRIFIC OLYMPIC CRASH
Lindsey Vonn of the United States is airlifted after a crash during a women’s downhill skiing event at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, on February 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Vonn said she had “no regrets” in her first Instagram post after the crash earlier this week.
“While yesterday didn’t end the way I had hoped and despite the intense physical pain it caused, I have no regrets. Standing in the starting gate yesterday was an incredible feeling that I will never forget,” her caption said.
“Knowing that I was standing there and had a chance to win was a victory in itself. I also knew that racing was a risk. It always has been and always will be an incredibly dangerous sport.
“And like skiing, we take risks in life. We dream. We love. We jump. And sometimes we fall. Sometimes our hearts are broken. Sometimes we don’t achieve the dreams we know we could have. But that’s also the beauty of life; we can try.
“I tried. I dreamed. I jumped.”
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Lindsey Vonn speeds down the track during the women’s alpine training event at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, on February 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)
She says the torn ACL had nothing to do with the crash.
“I was simply 5 inches too tight on my line when my right arm hooked inside the gate, twisted me and resulted in my crash. My ACL and previous injuries had nothing to do with my crash at all,” she said.
