It has now been almost three months, but ski icon Lindsey Vonn (41) has not yet been able to emotionally cope with her heavy fall at the Winter Games. Also because a new operation is planned soon, the ninth one. And more may follow. “A comeback is only possible in the 2027/28 season.”
On February 8, Vonn crashed heavily during her descent at the Winter Games. The skiing legend was left with a complex fracture of the tibia. An amputation of the left leg was narrowly avoided.
She has already gone under the knife eight times. The misery is not over yet, because a ninth operation is soon planned to repair the torn cruciate ligament in her knee. Perhaps more interventions will follow afterwards. The prognosis is that Vonn will have to recuperate for at least another year and a half.
“This injury was completely different from anything I have experienced before,” she says in an extensive conversation with the American news agency Associated Press. „Because of the seriousness, but also because I realize all too well that I almost lost my leg. It was very serious. I can tolerate a lot of pain, but this was so extreme. I’ve never experienced anything like this before.”
Vonn no longer needs a wheelchair, she has recently been able to walk on crutches. She also appeared at a sponsor event in New York on Wednesday.
She was cheerful, as she often was. “But I am actually still in survival mode. All my energy has gone into my physical recovery in recent months. I have not yet had the time to mentally recover from everything that has happened to me.”
Disagree with father
She cannot and does not want to think about the future yet. But still. When it comes to her career, she doesn’t want to say that it is over now anyway. Despite her age, 41, and despite all the misery she has known.
“Maybe I’ll retire. Maybe I’ll never race again and that would be completely fine. But now I don’t want to draw any premature conclusions. I can’t handle that emotionally. If I were to make a comeback, it wouldn’t be until the 2027-2028 season, because I won’t be able to be my old self again for another 18 months. The metal still has to be removed from my leg, and then there will be that cruciate ligament operation from which I will have to recover for months.”
“Although I prefer not to speculate now. Now I want to get through this difficult phase. And later we will take stock and see what is still possible.”
For her father, Alan Kildow, however, it was enough. “As long as I have anything to say about it, Lindsey will not ski any more competitions,” he said earlier.
Vonn is adamant: “He means well. But he forgets one important rule. If you want me not to do something, don’t tell me that I can’t do it. If you tell me that I can’t do something, I will do everything I can to prove the opposite.”
Exactly what she tried to do three months ago at the Winter Games, when she started in the descent with an already torn cruciate ligament.
