American alpine skiing legend Lindsey Vonn said her latest operation was successful after surgeons removed hardware from her left leg and reconstructed her anterior cruciate ligament (ACL).
In a social media post, Vonn wrote that the procedure “went well” and took more than five hours. “It took over 5 hours to remove all of the plates and screws from my leg and replace my ACL,” she said. “I am home from the hospital now and thankful to be on the final road to a full recovery.”
She thanked Dr. Tom Hackett, Dr. Randy Viola, Lindsay Winninger, the Stifel U.S. Ski Team, medical staff, and her loved ones.
The surgery, performed around November 9, 2026, at the Steadman Clinic in Vail, was Vonn’s ninth since her crash in the women’s downhill at the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics on February 8. She had ruptured her left ACL roughly nine days earlier in a World Cup race at Crans-Montana, Switzerland, but competed anyway. She crashed 13 seconds into her Olympic run after clipping a gate, suffering a complex tibia fracture (including a tibial plateau injury), a broken right ankle, and other damage.
Doctors initially feared she might lose the leg after developing compartment syndrome. Dr. Hackett, who was on site with the U.S. team, performed an emergency fasciotomy that Vonn has credited with saving her leg. Subsequent operations stabilized the fractures with plates and screws while her bones healed. The hardware had to be removed before the ACL could be reconstructed.
Vonn, 42, a 2010 Olympic downhill gold medalist and four-time World Cup overall champion, had come out of retirement aiming for another Olympic medal and entered the Games as a contender. She has said she expects a typical six-to-nine-month recovery from ACL reconstruction, plus time for the bone holes left by the removed screws to heal. She has not ruled out a future return to skiing but has described her competitive future as undecided.
The 2010 gold medalist previously called the February crash and its aftermath the most extreme and painful injury of her career. With the hardware now out and the ACL addressed, she has described this step as putting her on the path toward full recovery.
