Decorated downhill skier Lindsey Vonn, 41, spoke out in an emotional statement posted to her Instagram on Monday, Feb. 9, after she crashed and was airlifted off the slopes during what would be her last Olympic race for Team USA.
“Yesterday my Olympic dream did not finish the way I dreamt it would. It wasn’t a story book ending or a fairy tail, it was just life. I dared to dream and had worked so hard to achieve it. Because in Downhill ski racing the difference between a strategic line and a catastrophic injury can be as small as 5 inches,” Vonn wrote.
Lindsey Vonn Says Injury Was Not Why She Crashed at Olympics
“I was simply 5 inches too tight on my line when my right arm hooked inside of the gate, twisting me and resulted in my crash,” she continued. “My ACL and past injuries had nothing to do with my crash whatsoever. Unfortunately, I sustained a complex tibia fracture that is currently stable but will require multiple surgeries to fix properly.”
Vonn went on to detail how the chance to compete after coming back from a 6-year retirement was worth it despite the physical pain she has endured because of it. “While yesterday did not end the way I had hoped, and despite the intense physical pain it caused, I have no regrets. Standing in the starting gate yesterday was an incredible feeling that I will never forget,” Vonn said. “Knowing I stood there having a chance to win was a victory in and of itself. I also knew that racing was a risk. It always was and always will be an incredibly dangerous sport.”
Vonn continued, “And similar to ski racing, we take risks in life. We dream. We love. We jump. And sometimes we fall. Sometimes our hearts are broken. Sometimes we don’t achieve the dreams we know we could have. But that is the also the beauty of life; we can try. I tried. I dreamt. I jumped.”
Lindsey Vonn Encourages Others to Follow Their Dreams
GettyThe Olympic skier ended her statement by encouraging others to do the unthinkable even when the odds are stacked against them, especially if their heart is telling them to.
“I hope if you take away anything from my journey it’s that you all have the courage to dare greatly,” Vonn wrote. “Life is too short not to take chances on yourself. Because the only failure in life is not trying. I believe in you, just as you believed in me.”
The 2026 Olympics marked the end of Vonn’s competition career after having represented the United States for over two decades. Vonn’s miraculous comeback after suffering a ruptured ACL on Jan. 30 — just one week before she raced the 1.6-mile-long course in Tofane, Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy — ended tragically when she crashed only 13 seconds into her downhill, NBC News reported. Despite the unexpected ending, through pain and perseverance, Vonn’s strength showed millions of fans that anything is possible.
