Lindsey Vonn required a second surgery following her crash during the 2026 Olympics.

Lindsey Vonn’s Accident at the 2026 Winter Olympics

Lindsey Vonn faced a challenging situation after a serious accident during the Winter Olympics on Sunday, requiring multiple surgeries on her leg.

The 41-year-old Olympic athlete underwent a second operation on a broken leg just moments after falling during the downhill race, which started 13 seconds into her run. Reports indicate that she was airlifted to Ca’ Foncello Hospital in Treviso, where a specialized team of orthopedic and plastic surgeons carried out the surgery, with Vonn’s own doctor providing assistance.

Initially, the expectation was just one surgery would be enough to stabilize her leg. However, a second surgery became necessary to manage swelling and ensure proper blood flow. Following the procedures, she was moved to intensive care—a decision, perhaps, aimed at granting her a bit more privacy during recovery.

Interestingly, before this unfortunate incident, Vonn had been competing with a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), which she had injured during a prior training session in Switzerland. She’d shared on X that the ligament was “100% gone,” yet she had still decided to compete on that fateful day.

Then came the crash. A close family friend, Martina Saylor, commented that the incident was not a direct result of the ACL injury, emphasizing, “It can happen to anyone.” She expressed her devastation at witnessing Vonn’s crash but remained optimistic, believing that Vonn still had the potential to contend for gold.

Saylor recounted a conversation with her daughters, noting, “Not every story has a happy ending, but Lindsey should have no regrets; what she accomplished this year was amazing.” She added that Vonn would recover and, eventually, continue to shape her narrative.

Besides her gold in the downhill event at the 2010 Olympics, Vonn was determined to reclaim her title as the only American to win that event. Despite her retirement in 2019, she aimed to make a comeback.