Lindsey Vonn Won't Rule Out A Return To Skiing After Horrific Olympics Crash: 'you Just Never Know'

Lindsey Vonn is little than 2 months removed from a skiing mishap astatine nan Milan-Cortina Olympics that almost resulted successful nan amputation of her near leg.

She has stopped taking painkillers but is still exhausted.

She is backmost location successful Park City, Utah, but spends astir each of her clip successful rehab.

She is 41 and has won 4 wide World Cup championships, pinch 84 World Cup wins and 3 Olympic medals, including golden successful nan downhill astatine nan 2010 Vancouver Games.

Yet, Vonn would not definitively opportunity that her competitory skiing profession is over, during a caller interview pinch Vanity Fair’s Elise Taylor.

“I don’t for illustration to adjacent nan doorway connected anything, because you conscionable ne'er cognize what’s going to happen,” said Vonn, who appears on nan magazine’s cover successful a long, achromatic dress pinch a divided that shows her near limb — bandages and all.

“I person nary thought what my life will beryllium for illustration successful 2 years aliases 3 years aliases 4 years. I could person 2 kids by then. I could person nary kids and want to title again. I could unrecorded successful Europe. I could beryllium doing anything.”

She added: “It’s difficult to show pinch this injury. It’s truthful f— up.”

Vonn, who returned to racing successful precocious 2024 aft astir six years distant from nan sport, had 2 victories and 3 different podium finishes successful her 5 World Cup races during nan astir caller season. In December, Vonn announced she would beryllium competing successful her “5th and last Olympics!”

“I wanted to triumph nan Olympics, and I wanted to triumph nan downhill title, and I was connected way to do some of those things,” Vonn told Vanity Fair.

On Jan. 30, Vonn suffered a complete rupture of nan anterior cruciate ligament successful her near knee, pinch meniscus and bony damage, when she crashed during a downhill title successful Crans Montana, Switzerland.

She decided to compete astatine nan Olympics anyhow and had a mates of successful training runs starring up to nan Feb. 8 downhill competition.

“I was successful nan nonstop intelligence authorities that I wanted to beryllium in,” Vonn said. “I was fresh to go.”

Unfortunately, her title didn’t past long. Vonn mislaid power connected nan first jump, spun sideways successful nan air, slammed to nan crushed and needed to beryllium airlifted from nan course. Vonn and different skiing experts have said that nan ruptured ACL apt had thing to do pinch her clang astatine nan Olympics.

Vonn suffered a analyzable tibia fracture and different awesome damage. It contributed to a information called compartment syndrome, which involves excessive unit building up wrong a musculus and perchance tin lead to imperishable wounded aliases amputation.

Five surgeries later, Vonn is connected nan roadworthy to recovery. She has posted respective photos and videos on Instagram arsenic she amps up her fittingness regular again. In a March 15 station connected X, Vonn wrote that she’s not fresh to talk her skiing future.

“My attraction has been connected recovering from my wounded and getting backmost to normal life,” she wrote, adding, “I’ll fto you cognize erstwhile I decide.”

Vonn did show Vanity Fair that she’s not crazy astir nan thought of nan catastrophe astatine nan Winter Games being nan public’s past belief of her arsenic a skier.

“I don’t want group to bent connected this clang and beryllium remembered for that. What I did earlier nan Olympics has ne'er been done before. I was number 1 successful nan standings. No 1 remembers that I was winning.”