Olympic downhill champion Lindsey Vonn said her latest operation was successful after surgeons spent more than five hours clearing metal plates and screws from her left leg and reconstructing her ACL.
In an Instagram update posted Thursday, Vonn wrote that the surgery “went well” and that she is already home from the hospital. “I am thankful to be on the final road to a full recovery,” she said.
She thanked Dr. Tom Hackett, Dr. Randy Viola, Lindsay Winninger, the Stifel U.S. Ski Team, the medical staff, and her loved ones for their support.
The procedure was Vonn’s ninth since she crashed 13 seconds into the women’s downhill at the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics on February 8. She had torn her left ACL roughly nine days earlier in a World Cup race but competed anyway. The crash caused a complex tibia fracture and other injuries that nearly cost her the leg after she developed compartment syndrome.
Doctors had delayed ACL reconstruction until the fractures healed and the stabilizing hardware could be removed. With that hardware now out and a new ACL in place, the 42-year-old faces a typical six- to nine-month recovery. The four-time World Cup overall champion has not ruled out a return to skiing but has left her competitive future open.
