Lindsey Vonn issued a heartfelt statement after a devastating crash ended her miraculous return to the Olympics.
“Yesterday my Olympic dream did not finish the way I dreamt it would,” Vonn, 41, shared via Instagram on Monday, February 9. “It wasn’t a story book ending or a fairy [tale], it was just life. I dared to dream and had worked so hard to achieve it. Because in Downhill ski racing the difference between a strategic line and a catastrophic injury can be as small as 5 inches.”
Vonn was airlifted off the course following a dramatic wipeout just 13 seconds into her run during the women’s downhill event at the 2026 Winter Olympics on Sunday, February 8.
The crash happened after Vonn tore her ACL during a World Cup race in Switzerland on January 30.
“I was simply 5 inches too tight on my line when my right arm hooked inside of the gate, twisting me and resulted in my crash,” Vonn explained. “My ACL and past injuries had nothing to do with my crash whatsoever. Unfortunately, I sustained a complex tibia fracture that is currently stable but will require multiple surgeries to fix properly.”
Vonn underwent her initial surgery on Sunday after being transported to an Italian hospital.
“While yesterday did not end the way I had hoped, and despite the intense physical pain it caused, I have no regrets,” she wrote. “Standing in the starting gate yesterday was an incredible feeling that I will never forget. Knowing I stood there having a chance to win was a victory in and of itself. I also knew that racing was a risk. It always was and always will be an incredibly dangerous sport.”
She continued, “And similar to ski racing, 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 is the also the beauty of life; we can try.”
“I tried. I dreamt. I jumped,” Vonn added. “I hope if you take away anything from my journey it’s that you all have the courage to dare greatly. Life is too short not to take chances on yourself. Because the only failure in life is not trying. I believe in you, just as you believed in me.”
Vonn did not make any announcement about her professional future, but her father, Alan Kildow, has made it perfectly clear where he stands.
“She’s 41 years old and this is the end of her career,” Kildow told The Associated Press on Monday. “There will be no more ski races for Lindsey Vonn, as long as I have anything to say about it.”
Kildow added, “She’s a very strong individual. She knows physical pain and she understands the circumstances that she finds herself in. And she’s able to handle it. Better than I expected. She’s a very, very strong person. And so I think she’s handling it real well.”
Sadly, Vonn’s father — who remains by her side in Italy — said his daughter will be unable to cheer on her Team USA teammates in person during the remainder of the Olympics.
“She’s not in that kind of situation,” he said. “She will be going home at an appropriate point in time.”
