Compartment syndrome

Vonn reveals: Leg almost had to be amputated!

Lindsey Vonn a few days after her serious fall at the 2026 Winter Olympics(Bild: Vonn)

As if her serious fall at the Winter Olympics in Cortina d'Ampezzo wasn't dramatic enough, Lindsey Vonn is now making headlines with a shocking "confession"! In addition to the already known fractures in her leg, she also developed compartment syndrome – without the decisive intervention of her doctors, part of her leg might have had to be amputated...

As Vonn explains in an Instagram video, she is finally no longer confined to a hospital bed, "almost completely immobile." She is now well enough to stay in a hotel, "it's not home, but it's a big step in that direction for me." A step she can take on two legs – something she is convinced she owes to her doctor, Tom Hackett. "Dr. Tom Hackett saved my leg! He prevented amputation by performing a fasciotomy. He cut open my leg on both sides, filleting it, so to speak, so that it could breathe."

"Basically, everything was torn to pieces!"
During her fall in the Olympic downhill race, Vonn suffered a complicated tibia fracture, as well as fractures of the fibula and tibial plateau. "Basically, everything was torn to pieces," said Vonn, who repeatedly seemed to struggle with tears as she recounted her physical condition. Ultimately, this led to compartment syndrome, which occurs when an area of the body—in her case, the lower leg—is so severely injured that swelling and bleeding occur and nerves, muscles, or tendons are increasingly impaired by the rising pressure.

"I always say that everything in life has a purpose!"
So much so that it can lead to tissue death, which would then require amputation to save the patient's life – if no other intervention is made in time. It had not been planned that Dr. Hackett – Vonn's personal orthopedist – would be in Italy alongside the US skiing legend. It was only because she tore her cruciate ligament a week before the start of the Olympics that the doctor joined her and her team. "I always say that everything in life has a purpose: because if I hadn't torn my cruciate ligament in that accident, Tom wouldn't have been there and wouldn't have been able to save my leg."

"... because I also broke my right ankle!"
Despite her praise for Dr. Hackett, Vonn thanked the entire medical staff in Italy and at home in Colorado, everyone who helped her after her accident. However, she will still need some time to recover and "will have to sit in a wheelchair for a while longer – because I also broke my right ankle..." She hopes to be reasonably mobile again soon, at least on crutches. "But I'm going to start rehab right away and see what I can do."