U.S. skiing star Lindsey Vonn was emotionally candid in her first interview since nearly losing her left leg in her horrifying crash at the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics.
Vonn, who appears on the cover of Vanity Fair, described the sheer panic and pain she endured — and a swarm of paparazzi — while she was hospitalized in Italy after shattering her tibia, fibula and ankle.
Vonn, who was airlifted by helicopter off the course last month, recalled being given painkillers before she was put in a CT scan under the care of Tom Hackett, the head physician for Team USA Ski and Snowboard.
“Halfway through, I started sweating. I was just in such extreme pain. I screamed at the top of my lungs: Get me out,” Vonn, a three-time Olympic medalist, said.
“It just wouldn’t dissipate. It wouldn’t let up. It’s seared into my brain.”
The scan revealed that Vonn had a severe fracture in her left leg that required surgical stabilization, and Hackett made the decision to transfer her to a hospital in Treviso, Italy.
However, the helicopter transferring her to the hospital had trouble landing because paparazzi had swarmed the helipad.
“It had somehow leaked that that’s where we were going,” Hackett told Vanity Fair. “Which was extraordinary. I didn’t tell anybody.”
Upon arrival, a team of 20 doctors and nurses scrubbed in to get to work on Vonn’s leg.
Although the first surgery went well, Vonn was in excruciating pain and her leg wouldn’t stop swelling.
“It’s getting worse, and she’s not responding to monster amounts of fentanyl, morphine, oxycodone, like every narcotic you can imagine,” Hackett said.
“Dr. Hackett was on my left. There were a bunch of doctors and nurses around me,” Vonn recalled. “He said, ‘Don’t worry, I’m going to save your leg. I got this. I’m scrubbing in.’”
Vonn had compartment syndrome, a dangerous condition where pressure mounts in the leg, restricting blood flow and causing widespread nerve damage.
“I’m sure you’ve seen hot dogs or brats on a grill. They get more and more swollen. Then all of a sudden, they burst. They crack. That’s basically what happens with compartment syndrome,” Hackett said.
“There was a very significant chance that she was going to lose all function of her leg, if not the leg itself. Best-case scenario in those situations is, you might keep your leg, but it’s going to be useless.”
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