Several months after her devastating leg injury at the 2026 Winter Olympics in February, American skier Lindsey Vonn is still recuperating.
“It’s been a very slow process,” Vonn told People at the ESPYs on Wednesday. “It’s been five months since I’ve been able to actually go to the gym in a somewhat meaningful way.
“Walking is actually still really hard for me. My ankle is still broken,” she revealed.
Vonn crashed a mere 13 seconds into the women’s downhill event on Feb. 8. She was airlifted to a hospital and underwent emergency surgery for a complex tibia fracture. Vonn was already competing with a torn ACL, suffered just one week prior in the World Cup downhill, the last downhill event before the Olympics, which also required an airlift to the hospital.
“I was in a wheelchair for so long; I was on crutches for so long,” Vonn continued Wednesday. “It was honestly almost three and a half months that I was unable to walk unassisted. I got very emotional when I was able to walk on my own.”
Vonn qualified for her fifth Olympics in December at age 41.
She initially retired from competitive skiing in 2019 before announcing her comeback in late 2024.
“It’s a lot of rehab,” Vonn told The Athletic of her time since the Olympics. “Wake up at 7:30, breakfast at 8, 9 to 11 is rehab at my house. I have a little break, eat some food. Got to a hyperbaric chamber. Do about two hours with decompression in the hyperbaric, and then I come back and have a little break. And then usually work out from, like, 5 to 6:30, little break, shower, dinner.”
Vonn hasn’t yet ruled out a comeback following her recovery.
