Lindsey Vonn has hinted she could make another sensational return to skiing after her horror crash at the Winter Olympics but did reveal her family are strongly against it.
The USA icon, 41, made a miraculous comeback at Milan-Cortina in February only to suffer a horrific broken leg 13 seconds into her run in the women’s downhill final on February 8. She had already torn her ACL before the Games.
After the first of five surgeries, Vonn suffered from compartment syndrome which left doctors facing a race against time to avoid having to amputate the limb.
Following multiple surgeries in both Italy and the United States, the skiing legend was allowed to return home to Utah on March 1, almost a month after the crash happened.
Vonn has since proven that she has bounced back faster than fans expected with regular updates on her progress. Last week, she managed to walk for the first time since the crash.
Her current rehabilitation schedule includes a two-hour physio session every day, followed by two hours in a hyperbaric chamber and then a gym workout back at home.
Lindsey Vonn hinted she could make another sensational return to skiing after her horror crash
But she did reveal that the prospect of her returning to action has left her family ‘dismayed’
Vonn needed five surgeries in total after she came dangerously close to losing her leg
That has led her to consider making another return to the slopes, even if the prospect has left her family ‘dismayed’.
She told Today co-host Craig Melvin on Tuesday: ‘It’s just that ski racing is something I love to do and I never got a final run. I never got to say goodbye.’
Vonn explained that the shocking crash in potentially her final-ever race ‘leaves a door slightly open’ to her coming back.
She continued: ‘I don’t know, maybe I would do one more race to say goodbye. Maybe I’ll race again. It might be fun to do one more run. We’ll see.’
When asked by Melvin if she was seriously considering a return, Vonn explained: ‘I mean, much to my family’s dismay, yes.
‘I think it’s something, I’ve been so isolated. I’m still kind of trapped in this I didn’t have my Olympic dream situation.
‘But I need to walk and be out in public and be living life and I think that will give me a different perspective.
‘Right now I can’t say what the future holds because my mind can’t get there yet.’
Lindsey Vonn showed herself walking with the aid of crutches over a month after her crash
The 41-year-old later fired back at the ‘haters’ who said she was ‘selfish’ to ski at the Games
In a video posted late last month, Vonn showed her progress while wearing a black boot around her right ankle.
Using crutches to aid her, Vonn was able to put weight on her right foot and push herself up off a bench.
She then showed that she was able to walk with the use of those crutches. On the opposite leg, Vonn’s signs of surgery were seen in the form of giant gashes.
‘No matter how hard I get knocked down I will always find a way to get back up! One step at a time!’ Vonn captioned her post.
It’s a remarkable recovery considering how horrifying the crash was for the 41-year-old skier.
In February, Vonn joked that she is now ‘bionic’ after the five surgeries left her with dozens of metal screws in her leg. She already had titanium implants in her body after she underwent a reconstruction in her right knee back in 2024.
In an interview with Vanity Fair, Vonn noted the pain is ‘seared into my brain’ and that it took everything she had to stop from going insane while in the hospital in Italy.
Detailing an initial CT scan at the Olympic clinic before they even went to the hospital, Vonn said: ‘Halfway through, I started sweating. I was just in such extreme pain.
‘I screamed at the top of my lungs: Get me out. It just wouldn’t dissipate. It wouldn’t let up. It’s seared into my brain.’
