Lindsey Vonn has revealed that despite undergoing six surgeries, her ankle remains broken five months after her devastating Winter Olympics crash. The 41-year-old skiing superstar made this admission on the red carpet at the ESPYs on Wednesday.
“It’s been a very slow process,” Lindsey Vonn told People. “It’s been five months since I’ve been able to actually go to the gym in a somewhat meaningful way. Walking is actually still really hard for me. My ankle is still broken.”
Vonn has been through a lot since announcing her return to the Olympics earlier this year. She suffered a torn ACL a week before the Winter Olympics, then crashed and shattered her tibia, fibula and ankle just 13 seconds into her run in the women’s downhill final.
“I was in a wheelchair for so long, I was on crutches for so long,” Vonn said, adding, “It was honestly almost three and a half months that I was unable to walk unassisted. I got very emotional when I was able to walk on my own.”
Lindsay Vonn’s doctor intervened and prevented the amputation of her leg
Lindsey Vonn said that after the catastrophic injury, doctors may have amputated her leg if not for a surgery that the doctor who traveled with her to Italy to monitor how her injured ACL performed.
After the surgery, the medical staff placed Vonn into a room in the ICU, where she fell asleep. Unfortunately, in the middle of the night, she woke up screaming in pain. Her leg was swelling, and it wouldn’t stop. She was given “monster amounts of fentanyl, morphine, oxycodone, like every narcotic you can imagine,” according to Dr. Tom Hackett, the head physician for Team USA Ski and Snowboard. None of it helped. Vonn was suffering from compartment syndrome.
Vonn said she remembers Dr. Hackett telling her, “Don’t worry, I’m going to save your leg. I got this. I’m scrubbing in.” After four surgeries, she was finally out of danger.
In an Instagram reel posted this week, Lindsey Vonn reveled in how far she has come in her recovery since the crash.
“I knew one day I’d get here, just didn’t know how long it would take me,” Vonn wrote in the caption. “It took 5 months, but I’m finally here! Still a very long road ahead but my strength is coming back (maybe more mentally than physically still but that’s not a bad thing ;)”
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