Lindsey Vonn is still in ‘survival mode’ after Olympic disaster and is unsure whether to retire

In the year The 2010 Olympic downhill champion says she has “one more surgery to get the metal out and replace my (anterior cruciate ligament) ACL” and a longer recovery period.

“Once I get my ACL fixed, that’s another six months, so it’s at least a year and a half before I’m back to 100%, just training in the gym,” she added.

Vonn was racing at the Cortina Olympics nine days after tearing a ligament in her left knee when she hit a gate and crashed 13 seconds into the downhill.

She was airlifted off the piste and diagnosed with a compound fracture of the tibia in her left leg.

In the year “I’m still in survival mode. I want to get through this phase and assess where I am in my life,” said Vonn, who won two World Cups in 2009.

“I don’t want to make a decision now because I think that would be too hasty and probably too emotional, so I don’t want to make a mistake.”

Vonn, who won 84 World Cup races and is second only to American Mikaela Shiffrin on the all-time list for women, suffered a series of serious leg injuries before retiring from the sport in 2019.

After a partial right knee replacement, she announced her shock comeback in 2024.

Vonn was expected to medal in her fifth and final Olympics and competed despite suffering an ACL injury in Switzerland at the previous World Cup.

“The severity of the injury and the realization that I could lose my leg and how bad things were,” she said of the game’s injury, along with her previous injuries.

She added, “I can handle a lot of pain, but this was extreme. It was not even in the universe of pain like it was before.”