Olympic downhill legend Lindsey Vonn showed up at one of Hollywood’s most stacked nights of the year looking every bit the survivor she’s become — and she didn’t sugarcoat what’s next.
At the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art Opening Night Gala in Los Angeles on September 19, Vonn gave E! News a brief but telling update on her long road back from the crash that nearly cost her a leg at the 2026 Milano Cortina Olympics.
“It’s going well, thanks,” she said. “I have another surgery in November, so I’m just getting prepared for that and trying to enjoy life in between.”
That next operation is the ACL reconstruction she’s been putting off while her shattered tibia heals and hardware comes out. She’s been saying for months she hopes to get it done this winter. After that, she has already warned, comes “another long road.”
Asked if she’ll ever get back on skis, Vonn didn’t hesitate.
“Definitely. I don’t know what speed I’ll be going, but I’ll always be in the mountain. That’s some place that you’ll always find me no matter what.”
What has the last seven months taught her?
“Patience… or trying.” She laughed. “I still haven’t quite figured it out, but I’m trying.”
That’s the Vonn formula in one line: brutal honesty wrapped in a smile, then back to work.
Seven months after a crash 13 seconds into her Olympic downhill that left her with a complex tibia fracture, a broken ankle, compartment syndrome, and a torn ACL she already had, she has gone from wheelchair to crutches to red carpets in heels. The Met Gala, the ESPYs, tennis events, and now a George Lucas museum opening packed with Spielberg, Oprah, DiCaprio, and half of Hollywood. She’s still collecting surgeries and still refusing to close the door on snow.
The mountain isn’t going anywhere. Neither, it seems, is she.
