Lindsey Vonn on post-crash life, from 'balled up in a corner' to 'unresolved' return

• Lindsey Vonn is recovering from a horrific crash at the Milano Cortina Olympics two months ago.
• Vonn remains determined and positive despite the physical and emotional challenges of her recovery.
• The skier expects to be off crutches within a month and will have one more surgery.

Lindsey Vonn cannot be broken.

Her bones and other body parts, yes. But her spirit and resilience remains unshakeable.

It's been two months since the horrific crash during the downhill at the Milano Cortina Olympics that left Vonn with a compound fracture and tibial plateau fracture in her left leg, as well as a broken right ankle. Though she is still on crutches — she should be off them within the month — she's starting to resume a normal life.

She was able to travel to Los Angeles this week, and being around people again has been wonderful, she said. There are still moments of sadness and pain and disappointment, but Vonn is determined to keep forging ahead.

As she always has.

"Because I've been through so much, I think that it's allowed me to keep fighting and keep a good perspective," Vonn told USA TODAY Sports on April 7. "And while I do get very low at times, I think I can still see the light at the end of the tunnel. I can still try to keep that positive mindset.

"I don't know where my life will take me going forward, but I do know that I just have to keep putting one foot in front of the other and I will find my way to whatever path that I end up going down."

Vonn, 41, has had five surgeries since the Feb. 8 crash, including a fasciotomy to save her left leg after she developed compartment syndrome. She was hospitalized for about two weeks, first in Treviso, Italy, and then in Colorado, and has said it will take about a year for her injuries to heal completely.

She is diligently doing her rehab, and will have one more surgery to remove all the hardware in her leg and repair her left ACL, which she tore just before the Games.

"I honestly still haven't processed (the crash) because I've been so focused on the surgeries and the rehab and kind of in more of a survival mode. I haven't really had time to just sit and reflect. I've been just trying to make sure that I can do the things that I love moving forward in my life," said Vonn, who spoke to USA TODAY Sports as part of Invivyd's "Antibodies for Any Body" campaign.

"In some ways it feels like I'm still waiting for my Olympic run that I never got to finish. And in some ways I feel like it's so far away and almost never happened," she added. "It's a weird reality to be in."

Mother's influence helps Vonn through recovery

Vonn has always had an ability to rebound, be it from injuries or personal heartbreaks. She credits her mother, Linda Krohn, who died in August 2022, a year after being diagnosed with ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease.

"She was so positive and uplifting. No matter how bad things got, she always had something positive to say," Vonn said. "Even when she had ALS and in her hospital bed, she was never negative. She was never down. She always tried to look at the bright side of everything."

Vonn will not pretend these last two months have been easy. Being isolated, first in the hospital and now as she rehabs, is tough, and there have been days she's been "balled up in a corner."

But her mother's voice is always in her head, and it pushes Vonn to keep going.

"Even though this is very severe, I can still come back. I will be OK," she said. "I have an amazing group of doctors and support system that are helping me get through this, and I will get on the other side of it. I just have to keep putting one foot in front of the other."

What's next for Lindsey Vonn?

Awful as the crash and its aftermath has been, Vonn hasn't ruled out racing again. And it's not because she has nothing else in her life.

Vonn built a full life for herself after she retired from competitive skiing in 2019. She has a foundation devoted to empowering young women in underserved communities. She has a portfolio of investments and is on the board of Athena Capital. She works with sponsors. She has a tight-knit family and a circle of friends.

But once she came out of retirement, Vonn envisioned a very different end for her career. Being airlifted off the mountain at the Olympics was never part of that picture.

"I know that I don't like the way it ended," she said. "I think it could have been a fairytale ending and it wasn't, but that's also life. I may not get what I want. That may be it and I will live with that and be happy for the journey that I was able to go on."

But Vonn would also love the chance to say goodbye. To fans, yes. But also to the women she raced with and against. She spent years of her life with many of them, more time than she spent with her family, and not saying goodbye feels "unresolved."

"It doesn't necessarily mean that I have to be racing again to have that opportunity," she said. "So I think I'm just going to take my time to recover. I still have one more surgery left in a few months. And then as time goes on, I think the answer will become more clear.

"But right now, I have no idea."

Season to remember: Vonn's 'most dynamic skiing'

Whether she skis competitively again or not, Vonn will take the memories of this season with her.

Largely overshadowed by the crash is the incredible comeback she'd made. Vonn was on the podium in every downhill race ahead of the Olympics, including two wins. She also made the podium twice in super-G.

"It was an incredible season. I think that was some of the most consistent skiing that I had potentially done in my career. I think it was some of the most dynamic skiing that I had done in my career," Vonn said.

"I won the first race of the season by almost a second," she added. "I know I surprised a lot of people, especially my competitors when I did that. And I try to focus on that moment and how special that was."

Vonn tore her left ACL in a crash in the final downhill race before the Olympics. Despite what some armchair ski experts suggested, the ACL was not a factor in her crash in Cortina.

Her right knee was in far worse shape at the world championships in 2019, her last event before she retired, and Vonn still won a bronze medal there. The day before the Olympic downhill, she'd posted the third-fastest training run.

"The ACL did not have an effect on my crash, my age didn't have an effect on my crash," Vonn said.

She simply got a few inches off her line. When she hooked her arm on a gate, it sent her spinning and there was no way to recover.

"It's just the nature of my sport. It's the danger of downhill. And that's why it's exciting is that you can win or lose and the margins are so thin," Vonn said. "I don't think people really understand that. And I wish I could explain it better, but in some ways, like I said, it's not worth the explanation.

"I know I was ready. I know I was strong. I know I was capable of winning that race. I made a mistake and that's life. I have to live with it."

But even after everything, she has no regrets. Nor will she change how she approaches life, regardless of what comes next.

"I'm excited to keep trying to push the limits in whatever it is that I do. And that's exciting," she said. "I have a lot to look forward to and I'm very thankful for all of it."