Lindsey Vonn considering return to skiing: 'I never got a final run'

Despite a devastating crash at the 2026 Milano Cortina Olympics that fractured her tibia and nearly forced doctors to amputate her leg, Lindsey Vonn is still contemplating a return to competitive skiing.

"I mean, much to my family’s dismay, yes," the 41-year-old Vonn said in a Tuesday, April 7 interview on NBC's "Today" show. "I think it’s just something that – I mean, I’ve been, like I said, so isolated and not able to really live life outside of skiing."

Vonn was competing at the Winter Olympics just nine days after she tore her ACL in the same left leg during a World Cup event. However, the crash came when she hooked a gate in the women's downhill and was unrelated to her knee injury.

Vonn, a three-time Olympic medalist, previously retired from skiing in 2019 due to injuries. But she returned to the sport in 2024 and was back in top form, leading the World Cup standings in the downhill heading into the Olympics.

Vonn said she's currently undergoing extensive physical therapy, even though she isn't sure whether or not she'll ever ski again.

"I can move on," Vonn said. "I mean, it’s not a question of can I. I already have, you know? And I already retired for six years. Like, I know what it’s like to not be a ski racer anymore. It’s just that ski racing is something I love to do. And I had so much fun this season that – and I never got to – I never got a final run."

Despite her long list of career accomplishments − which include a record 82 World Cup race wins, 20 World Cup titles, eight World Championship medals and three Olympic medals − Vonn still admits being insecure about how she'll be remembered because of what happened on the slopes at Cortina.

"I don’t want that to be my legacy at all, because I was having such an amazing season doing things that no one else has ever done. And I was so proud of that," she said. "I don’t want that to be washed away. You know? I don’t want 13 seconds to define my career because it’s so much more than that."