Lindsey Vonn reveals she nearly had leg amputated after scary Olympics crash

Lindsey Vonn’s left leg injury looked bad enough, but the US skiing legend has just admitted that the outcome could have been much worse. Vonn took to Instagram on Monday to detail just how bad her injuries were after crashing during a women’s downhill event at the 2026 Winter Olympics.

At the February 8 event, Vonn clipped a gate and sailed off the course just 13 seconds into her run, suffering a complex tibia fracture in her left leg and breaking her right ankle. But the 41-year-old has now revealed that the trauma her leg suffered led to compartment syndrome, which happens when pressure from bleeding or swelling builds up inside a muscle and restricts blood flow to an area of the body.

“When you have so much trauma to one area of your body so that there’s too much blood and it gets stuck, and it basically crushes everything,” Vonn said.

Lindsey Vonn speaks on her leg almost getting amputated

(: @lindseyvonn) pic.twitter.com/IoJRuug2OA

— Complex Sports (@ComplexSports) February 23, 2026

Vonn said that if the compartment syndrome hadn’t been treated as soon as possible, there would have been permanent damage, and she would have needed to have her leg amputated. She then gave credit to the orthopedic surgeon who saved her from losing her left leg.

“Dr. Tom Hackett saved my leg. He saved my leg from being amputated,” Vonn said. “He filleted it open [and] let it breathe, and he saved me,” she said.

Dr. Hackett, who works for both Team USA and Vonn personally, was already at the Olympics in Italy since Vonn tore her ACL while practicing for the Olympics. Vonn also credited that incident for ultimately helping her out in the long run.

“If I hadn’t had [torn my ACL], Tom wouldn’t have been there [and he] wouldn’t have been able to save my leg,” she said.

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