Lindsey Vonn Opens Up on 'Dark' Mental Battle After Surgeries on Injury from Olympics Crash

American alpine skier Lindsey Vonn opened up about the "mental battle" involved in recovering from the severe leg injury that ended her run at the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics.

"Today was a hard day," Vonn wrote Tuesday, 16 days after she suffered a complex left tibia fracture and right ankle fracture early in her downhill run on Feb. 8.

Vonn has since undergone multiple surgeries, some of which she said saved her from the amputation of her left leg.

"My physical battle began the second I got hurt but the mental battle started today," Vonn wrote Tuesday. "It hit me like a ton of bricks. It's a battle I'm used to because I've done it so many times. I have always learned from every injury. Each one has made me a better and stronger person in different ways… but the battle of the mind can be dark and hard and unrelenting."

Vonn concluded, "I do know hard days are coming but I will find a way back to the top of the mountain of life."

Vonn wrote in a Monday post on Instagram that she had moved to a hotel after two weeks "in a hospital bed almost completely immobile."

The skier has been sharing updates throughout her multiple procedures in both Italy and the United States, including sharing X-ray images last Friday displaying the repairs inside her left leg.

Vonn was competing in the Olympics despite suffering a torn left ACL in a training run shortly before the tournament.

This isn't the first time injuries have derailed the career of Vonn, who retired from competitive skiing in 2019 due to multiple severe injuries before undergoing partial right knee replacement surgery in April 2024.

Vonn announced her plan to return to the sport in November 2024 and successfully qualified for the United States Olympic ski team after earning podium finishes in seven of her eight races during the 2025 season.

Despite Vonn's injury history, which includes LCL and ACL tears as well as the knee replacement and multiple tibia fractures, she has described her latest injury as "by far the most extreme, painful and challenging I've faced in my life."

Vonn became the first American woman to win downhill gold at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, and the oldest World Cup downhill winner in December. She has indicated in multiple social media posts she hopes to eventually return to skiing.