Lindsey Vonn is speaking out for the first time about her horrible crash at the Olympics.
The 41-year-old all-star skier got candid in a new interview with Vanity Fair, out now.
During the conversation, she addressed the events of the 2026 Winter Olympics, including the five surgeries she endured afterward and nearly losing her leg, her legacy, as well as her future in the sport.
Keep reading to find out more…
On the moment the accident occurred on a global broadcast:
“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. I just needed someone to take my skis off.”
On her life when she retired at 33 and got knee replacement surgery that helped her previous injuries:
“I think that’s probably my downfall. I like to challenge myself. And there’s no way that I’ll ever be challenged even remotely close in my life as I have been in skiing. That’ll always be my personal challenge: How do I find joy in regular things?…I had gotten so used to not racing. But then the switch flipped back on: ‘Oooh, I miss this.’”
On the social media backlash to her moving ahead to compete in the 2026 Winter Olympics after tearing her ACL:
“Everyone said it was reckless and I was taking a spot from somebody else and all this nonsense. I’m not crazy. I know what I can do and what I can’t do.”
On not allowing her accident to become her legacy:
“I don’t want people to hang on this crash and be remembered for that. 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.”
On looking ahead to what’s next:
“I don’t like to close the door on anything, because you just never know what’s going to happen. I have no idea what my life will be like in two years or three years or four years. I could have two kids by then. I could have no kids and want to race again. I could live in Europe. I could be doing anything.”
“It’s hard to tell with this injury. It’s so f–ked 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 also hit back at the critics for saying she was selfish to return to the Olympics.
