Lindsey Vonn undergoes ninth surgery after crash in Cortina at 2026 Winter Olympics

Lindsey Vonn has undergone her ninth operation after breaking a leg and an ankle in a crash during the downhill at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Cortina. She uploaded a video on social media before the procedure saying she was "praying" it would be her last operation and that she was "nervous and anxious" but "excited to hopefully put it behind me".

The 42-year-old explained surgeons would remove all of the hardware that was installed during eight previous procedures to repair her anterior cruciate ligament (ACL). She said: "I'm doing this beforehand because I'm actually getting pretty nervous about it." She added: "On the day of, I'm going to be focused and rested and trying to get through it."

While racing in the Olympic downhill in Cortina — nine days after rupturing ligaments in her left knee — Vonn struck a gate and crashed 13 seconds into her run. The impact resulted in a broken leg and ankle.

Vonn previously revealed the operations had meant she did not have to have her leg amputated. She retired in 2019 after suffering numerous leg injuries. She made a shock return in 2024 after a partial right knee replacement.

Vonn, who is regarded as one of the greatest alpine skiers of all time, has won 84 World Cup races — second in the all-time women's list behind compatriot Mikaela Shiffrin.

Vonn said: "I've been waiting all these nine months so my bones could heal and we could fix the ACL and my bones healed which is great news." She added: "But obviously now I have the ACL and that means another six to nine months."