Lindsey Vonn Reveals Graphic New Details About Her Crash at the Olympics: ‘I Was in Such Extreme Pain’

The skier, 41, spoke out about the heartbreaking crash in a new cover interview with 'Vanity Fair'

NEED TO KNOW

• Lindsey Vonn is speaking out about her accident at the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics
• Less than two months after crashing out of the games, Vonn, 41, has recalled being in “extreme pain” following the incident, which was broadcast around the world
• “I was number one in the world, and potentially on my way to an Olympic medal. Now I’m in a wheelchair,” the athlete tells Vanity Fair in a new interview publishd March 26

Lindsey Vonn is sharing new details about her Olympic heartbreak.

In the cover story for Vanity Fair’s May 2026 issue, released on Thursday, March 26, the Olympian spoke out for the first time about her mental and physical health, weeks after suffering a serious injury that nearly led to her losing her leg.

"I was number one in the world, and potentially on my way to an Olympic medal,” Vonn told the outlet. “Now I’m in a wheelchair.”

Vonn — who says she was “ready to go” and “in the exact mental state” that she “wanted to be in” before the Olympics, despite tearing the ACL in her left knee nine days prior — explained that she had a whole strategy planned for the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics before the accident.

There was a small lip before a gate in the early section of the women's downhill course, the outlet states, adding that athletes would usually be pushed to the left while turning over it. However, Vonn ended up going over it too fast, pressuring her outside ski too hard. Her arm then caught one of the gate’s poles, per Vanity Fair.

Vonn’s coach, Aksel Lund Svindal, told the outlet, “It was a very, very small error. We’re talking about a few centimeters [but] she paid a high price.”

“My leg was broken. My skis were still on. My leg was torqued, and I couldn’t get my skis off. I couldn’t move, and I was yelling for help,” Vonn recalled, adding, “I just needed someone to take my skis off.”

Describing being given painkillers and taken for a CT scan, Vonn said, “Halfway through, I started sweating. I was just in such extreme pain. I screamed at the top of my lungs: Get me out. It just wouldn’t dissipate. It wouldn’t let up. It’s seared into my brain.”

At one point, Vonn’s leg started to swell and wouldn’t stop. Tom Hackett, the head physician for Team USA Ski and Snowboard, said Vonn was experiencing full-blown compartment syndrome. Vanity Fair notes that the condition is “where pressure mounts in the leg, restricting blood flow and causing widespread nerve damage."

“Dr. Hackett was on my left. There were a bunch of doctors and nurses around me,” Vonn remembers. “He said, ‘Don’t worry, I’m going to save your leg. I got this. I’m scrubbing in.’ ”

Despite the amount of attention that the crash received, Vonn doesn’t the incident to be her legacy.

“I don’t want people to hang on this crash and be remembered for that,” she told the magazine. “What I did before the Olympics has never been done before. I was number one in the standings. No one remembers that I was winning.”

Vonn also opened up about her future and a potential retirement, insisting that she won't “close the door on anything, because you just never know what’s going to happen.”

Vonn told the outlet, “It’s hard to tell with this injury. It’s so f—ed up. I really feel like that was a horrible last run to end my career on.”

“I only made it 13 seconds. But they were a really good 13 seconds,” she says of the women's downhill event at the winter Olympics.

In the weeks since her crash, Vonn has given fans and followers a firsthand look at her recovery, from her time in an Italian hospital to flying back to the States to getting acclimated to a new routine at home in a scooter. Vonn has also shared behind-the-scenes moments of her intense rehab and workout sessions.

Vonn has also been outspoken about her mindset post-injury and hasn’t been shy to clap back at commenters, some of whom questioned her even competing in the Games, having ruptured her ACL less than two weeks before.

“No, I’m not ready to discuss my future in skiing,” Vonn wrote in a post on Sunday, March 15. “My focus has been on recovering from my injury and getting back to normal life. I was already retired for 6 years and have an amazing life outside of skiing. It was incredible to be #1 in the world again at 41 years old and set new records in my sport, but at my age, I’m the only one that will decide my future."

Through it all, she has also credited her support system, including her sister Karin Kildow, who is also recovering from a knee injury at the same time.

Earlier this week, Vonn also looked back on the impact her late mother, Lindy Anne Lund, had on her life.

“Wish you could have been here this year,” Vonn wrote in a post on Instagram alongside a video of Lund, who died in August 2022 at the age of 70, a year after she was diagnosed with ALS. “I don’t know if you would be more proud now than you were at the 2018 Olympics when I got bronze…. But I would really love to know.”

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