Lindsey Vonn has showcased her dedication to recovering from her catastrophic leg injury at the 2026 Winter Olympics.
Just six weeks after her dramatic crash at the Milan and Cortina games, Vonn, 41, posted an Instagram video on Saturday, March 21, to reveal that she is already doing full sets on a pull up bar at the gym.
“First set of pull ups post surgery… slowly getting there,” Vonn captioned the Instagram post.
Vonn’s followers hailed her resilience, including Chelsea Handler replying, “INSPIRING, INCREDIBLE, BEAST MODE.”
The champion skier went into the Olympics in Italy having already torn her ACL during a World Cup race in Switzerland on January 30. Vonn defied the odds by pushing through her pain at the Olympic trials to compete in Milan and Cortina.
Disaster struck only 13 seconds into Vonn’s women’s downhill event on February 8 when she crashed and had to be airlifted to a hospital to undergo an emergency orthopedic operation to stabilize a complex tibia fracture.
Vonn underwent additional procedures in both Italy and once she returned home to the U.S., revealing that she nearly had her leg amputated due to the severe trauma caused by her crash.
“Dr. Tom Hackett saved my leg,” Vonn explained in a social media post at the time. “He saved my leg from being amputated. He did what’s called a fasciotomy, where he cut open both sides of my leg and kind of filleted it open so to speak, let it breathe, and he saved me.”
Once Vonn started physical therapy in early March, she admitted her disappointment about falling off the top of downhill skiing’s world rankings.
“Well… I’ve had the red leader bib from the first race of the season until now, but in all likelihood tomorrow will be my last day as #1,” Vonn wrote via Instagram on March 6. “At the beginning of the season no one would have ever believed I would be even close to this position. And I bet people would have laughed if it was even suggested. But winning the title was my goal… and I came painfully close to achieving it.”
Vonn mentioned that she doesn’t like bragging about her achievements but felt it was important to draw attention to her success after nearly six years in retirement.
“I was on the podium of every single downhill race, including 2 wins,” she pointed out. “I clawed my way back to #1 in the world after being retired for 6 years with a partial knee replacement and that alone was an incredible achievement I won’t ever forget. Even though in a few days no one will remember that I almost won the season title, I will remember. I didn’t want to win the title to prove anything to anyone. I did it because I knew I could. I just wish I had a chance to fight until the end to try and get it.”
Amid speculation that she would walk away from the sport once again, Vonn tweeted on March 14, “Who said I was retiring?”
A fan replied that “the ego is so strong in this one” before encouraging her to put her “feet up and be done.”
“Think you’re mistaking ego for joy,” Vonn corrected them. “I’ve said it my whole life; I love skiing. I’ll put my feet up when I’m good and ready, thank you.”
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