Lindsey Vonn shows off progress in gym 1 month after 2026 Olympics crash
Lindsey Vonn is continuing to regain her strength just over a month after a major crash at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics.
In a new Instagram post shared over the weekend, the athlete is seen performing six unassisted pull-ups before lowering herself onto a step stool, returning to her crutches and fist-bumping her trainer to celebrate the milestone.
"First set of pull ups post surgery," she wrote in the caption. "Slowly getting there!"
Earlier this year, the decorated skier suffered back-to-back injuries. Vonn tore the anterior cruciate ligament, or ACL, in her left knee on Jan. 30 during a World Cup race in Switzerland. Then, on Feb. 8 at the Milan Cortina Games, she crashed about 13 seconds after starting the women's downhill event -- one of her specialties -- on the Olympia delle Tofane slope in Cortina d'Ampezzo.
Following the Olympics crash, Vonn was airlifted by helicopter from the course to an Italian hospital. She also documented her return home, flying from Italy back to the United States before being transferred by ambulance to another hospital.
Vonn later shared that she suffered multiple serious injuries, including a complex tibia fracture, fibular head fracture, tibial plateau fracture and compartment syndrome in her leg. She said she underwent a six-hour surgery, including a fasciotomy, and later credited her doctor with saving her leg from amputation.
She said at the time that the injuries and recovery came with significant pain.
"I was really struggling. Pain was a little bit out of control, and I had a blood transfusion, and that helped me a lot," she said, adding that "it was definitely not the way I wanted to end my Olympics."
In a post on X last month, Vonn acknowledged the difficult days of recovery but said she is determined to push forward.
"Today was a hard day… my physical battle began the second I got hurt but the mental battle started today,” she wrote. "...I do know hard days are coming but I will find a way back to the top of the mountain of life."
