Lindsey Vonn Gives Discouraging Update After Olympic Downhill Crash

CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy, Feb 13 (Reuters) – Lindsey Vonn said on Friday that she would undergo a fourth surgery following her horrific crash in the Winter Olympics downhill, as the U.S. ski great described a slow and uncertain recovery in hospital.

Under treatment in the city of Treviso since last Sunday, the 41-year-old said she was “finally feeling more like myself” after some difficult days but warned she still had “a long, long way to go” with another operation scheduled for Saturday.

“Tomorrow, I’ll have another surgery, and hopefully that goes well, and then I can potentially leave and go back home, at which point I will need another surgery,” she said in a video posted on social media. “Still don’t know exactly what that entails yet until I get some better imaging, but it’s kind of where I am right now.”

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Vonn, who suffered a complex leg fracture in the fall, said she remains largely immobile in the hospital and is waiting to determine the full course of her rehabilitation.She thanked medical staff, family and supporters for messages and gifts that had helped her through the ordeal, adding that watching her fellow Americans compete had lifted her spirits as she begins what is expected to be a lengthy recovery.

Lindsey Vonn, who was airlifted from the downhill with a compound leg fracture, said she’ll need a fourth surgery — and more. Getty