Lindsey Vonn Reveals Olympic Injury Diagnosis and Puts Rumors To Bed
The world was watching when Lindsey Vonn crashed during the Women's Downhill at the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics yesterday, February 8, 2026.
Vonn appeared to clip a gate with her right arm while airing through a turn. She spiraled out of control and crashed violently. The crowd held their breath as Vonn was airlifted to a local hospital.
Speculation, mostly by click-seeking tabloids and other detractors, ran rampant about Vonn's previously-reported torn ACL injury. Did the knee injury, which she sustained just nine days prior, cause her to crash on Sunday?
Vonn put the rumors to bed today in an Instagram post.
"My ACL and past injuries had nothing to do with my crash whatsoever," wrote Vonn. "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 revealed that she suffered a "complex tibia fracture" in the crash. It will reportedly take multiple surgeries to fix properly.
Vonn's Instagram post has been embedded below. Keep reading for more.
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Vonn's Olympic dream didn't pan out the way she hoped, but the caption reveals her mindset as she faces surgery and recovery.
"I have no regrets," writes Vonn. "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."
More from Vonn's Instagram post:
"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.
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."
Vonn finished the post with a message to her fans. "I believe in you, just as you believed in me."
Thanks for everything, Lindsey. You're a beast.