Lindsey Vonn breaks her silence following horror Olympic crash

Lindsey Vonn’s horrific crash on the slopes during the downhill ski race at the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics on Sunday left fans waiting with bated breath to hear an update on her condition. The alpine ski racer broke her silence for the first time since the crash on Monday, revealing in a lengthy Instagram post that she had sustained a complex tibia fracture from the accident.

“Yesterday, my Olympic dream did not finish the way I dreamt it would. It wasn’t a storybook ending or a fairytale, it was just life,” she began, alongside a photo of her skiing mid-air. “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 five inches.”

 “I was simply five inches too tight on my line when my right arm hooked inside of the gate, twisting me and resulting in my crash. My ACL and past injuries had nothing to do with my crash whatsoever,” she continued.

Lindsey ruptured her ACL less than two weeks before her Olympic event, yet wore a brace and vowed to complete the competition despite the risks. She was airlifted to a nearby hospital on Sunday after the terrifying crash.
“Unfortunately, I sustained a complex tibia fracture that is currently stable but will require multiple surgeries to fix properly,” her caption read.

“While yesterday did not 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. 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.”

Lindsey went on: “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 also the beauty of life; we can try.”

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The Olympic gold medallist ended with an inspirational message for her followers. “I tried. I dreamt. I jumped. 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.”

Learn more about Lindsey’s ACL injury below…

Her friends and fans rushed to the comment section to share their support, with Olympic rugby union star Ilona Maher writing: “I’m proud of you for doing that. You are a lesson for all women that we are more than our age and people’s perceptions,” while gymnastic legend Simone Biles added three white heart emojis.

Nobel Prize-winning activist Malala Yousafzai commented: “So proud of you…you’re a champion and will always be,” while actress Reese Witherspoon chimed in: “LV, I’m so inspired by your courage to always challenge yourself. You are and will always be a true Champion.”

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Lindsey is one of the greatest skiers in history, having won 84 World Cup ski races throughout her career, nabbed gold and bronze at the Vancouver Winter Olympics in 2010, and scored bronze at the South Korean Winter Olympics in 2018.

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She retired a year later due to injuries, yet returned to racing in 2024 after a knee replacement. The 41-year-old’s father, Alan Kildow, shared an update on her post-crash condition with the Associated Press and praised her for being “a very strong individual”.

“She knows physical pain, and she understands the circumstances that she finds herself in,” he said. “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.”