Olympic skier Lindsey Vonn is on the road to recovery after suffering a complicated broken leg at the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics — but things could’ve easily gone another way.
Vonn revealed some shocking news in a February 23 Instagram video, saying that her left leg would likely have had to have been amputated after her February 8 crash during the women’s downhill event at the Winter Games if it weren’t for a great doctor. In the video, Vonn said that “everything was in pieces” after her accident that caused a complex tibia fracture and other issues.
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“The reason why it was so complex was because I had compartment syndrome,” Vonn explained. “And compartment syndrome is when you have so much trauma to one area of your body that there’s too much blood and it gets stuck and it basically crushes everything in the compartment. So, all the muscle, and nerves, and tendons — it all kind of dies.”
Fortunately, Vonn’s doctor saved the day — and her leg.
“Dr. Tom Hackett saved my leg,” Vonn said of the orthopedic surgeon who treated her. “He saved my leg from being amputated. He did what’s called a fasciotomy, where he cut open both sides of my leg and kind of filleted it open, so to speak — let it breathe and… he saved me.”
“I always talk about ‘everything happens for a reason,’ but if I hadn’t torn my ACL, which I would’ve torn anyway with this crash… if I hadn’t done that, Tom wouldn’t have been there,” Vonn continued in the video, referencing her January 30, 2026 accident in which she crashed during a World Cup event in Switzerland, tearing her left ACL. “He wouldn’t have been able to save my leg. So I feel very grateful and lucky for him.”
What is compartment syndrome?
According to the Cleveland Clinic, compartment syndrome is extremely painful and dangerous, and the worst kind — acute compartment syndrome — occurs suddenly, usually after a severe and traumatic injury.
“Compartment syndrome happens when there’s too much pressure around your muscles,” the Cleveland Clinic states. “The pressure restricts (reduces) the flow of blood, fresh oxygen and nutrients to your muscles and nerves. Compartment syndrome is extremely painful.”
The Cleveland Clinic’s web page explains that “compartment” is the medical term for a group of muscles, nerves, and blood vessels.
“Compartments are covered by a fascia — a thin, firm membrane,” according to the Cleveland Clinic. “Compartment syndrome happens when extra pressure builds up inside a compartment and your muscles press against the fascia more than they should.”
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How long will Lindsey Vonn’s recovery take?
Vonn gave fans a hint of what her recovery timetable would look like in her February 23 Instagram post.
“Now I will focus on rehab and progressing from a wheelchair to crutches in a few weeks,” Vonn wrote. “It will take around a year for all of the bones to heal and then I will decide if I want to take out all the metal or not, and then go back into surgery and finally fix my ACL.”
She added that “it will be a long road” to recovery but rejoiced that, “at least I’m out of the hospital.”