Lindsey Vonn has ninth operation since Olympic crash

Lindsey Vonn has had her ninth operation since breaking her leg and ankle in a crash at the 2026 Winter Olympics, saying she hopes it will be her last.

The American skier, 42, said before the procedure that surgeons would remove hardware fitted during eight earlier operations. Those procedures followed a crash in the Olympic downhill at Cortina, where she struck a gate 13 seconds into her run. She had ruptured ligaments in her left knee nine days earlier.

Vonn said she had waited nine months for her bones to heal before doctors could address her anterior cruciate ligament (ACL). She said the ACL injury meant a further six to nine months of recovery.

The 2010 Olympic downhill champion retired in 2019 after numerous leg injuries, then returned to competition in 2024 following a partial right knee replacement. She has won 84 World Cup races, second on the all-time women’s list behind fellow American Mikaela Shiffrin.