Lindsey Vonn has undergone her fifth surgery following her terrifying Olympic downhill crash in Cortina d’Ampezzo earlier this month—this one back at home in Colorado. The 41-year-old ski racer returned to Colorado three days ago. “Made it through surgery… it took a bit more than 6 hours to complete,” Vonn wrote on Instagram. “As you can see, it required a lot of plates and screws to put back together but Dr Hackett did an incredible job. Thank you Dr Viola for the surgery assist as well!!”
She added that due to the extent of the trauma, she has not yet been discharged from the hospital. “With the extent of the trauma, I’ve been struggling a bit post op and have not yet been able to be discharged from the hospital just yet… almost there. Baby steps. Will explain the injury and what it all means soon.”
The X-ray she shared shows multiple metal plates and numerous screws spanning her left tibia—the result of a complex fracture sustained during her February 8 crash. After the accident in Cortina, Vonn underwent four surgeries in Italy before doctors deemed her stable enough for transport back to Colorado. She returned to the U.S. still fitted with an external fixator—an “X-fix” frame that stabilizes shattered bone fragments through pins inserted into the leg.
External fixation is commonly used in high-energy injuries where swelling and soft-tissue damage make immediate internal repair unsafe. The device holds the bone in alignment while the body stabilizes, allowing surgeons to later perform definitive reconstruction.
This latest six-hour procedure removed the external fixator and permanently rebuilt the fractured tibia using internal plates and screws—a meticulous process that involves realigning bone fragments and securing them to restore structural stability and joint integrity. The surgery was performed by Dr. Tom Hackett, a leading orthopedic surgeon, who specializes in knees, shoulders, and elbows. He has helped many professional athletes—NHL, NFL, and snow sports— and is a team physician for the US Snowboard Team.
A complex tibia fracture is one of the more serious lower-leg injuries an athlete can sustain. Because the tibia bears most of the body’s weight, healing requires strict protection from loading for weeks or months, followed by extensive rehabilitation to regain strength and mobility. Vonn has already acknowledged the severity of the injury, previously writing, “My injury was a lot more severe than just a broken leg.”
Now back home in Colorado, she faces a lengthy recovery process. For an athlete whose career has been defined by comebacks, this marks another major chapter—and perhaps one of her toughest yet. But knowing Vonn, she will be back from this one as well.
What a nightmare break. If she continues to race DH and SG, she has a screw loose. These injuries will bother her for the remainder of her life. Lindsey, stick to recreational skiing on the front-side groomed beginner runs.