Lindsey Vonn has undergone a ninth operation on the left leg she shattered in a crash at the Winter Olympics in February. The 42-year-old American downhill great is now recovering, and she has said she hopes this will be the last operation she requires.

Vonn announced the operation in a video message posted before surgery on Monday, 9 November. Reuters reported on Wednesday, 11 November, that she had undergone the procedure, which was designed to remove the plates and hardware that had stabilised her leg and to repair the anterior cruciate ligament she tore before the Games.

What the ninth operation involved

The surgery removed the plates and screws that had been used to repair Vonn's left leg after the crash, and finally reconstructed the ACL she tore in an earlier accident. Surgeons had been unable to rebuild the ligament sooner because the hardware needed to hold the fractured bone in place was in the way.

Vonn explained the position in her video message. She said she had been waiting for nine months for the bone to heal so the ACL could be fixed, and that the bone had healed well. She added that she had been nervous and anxious about the operation, but also excited to hopefully put the injury behind her.

"This will be my ninth surgery and I'm praying my last," Vonn said. "There are still things that could change in surgery so we will have to wait and see how it goes but I will keep you posted on my progress when I am out of surgery and recovering."

Once the operation is complete, she faces another six to nine months of recovery and rehabilitation, a period similar to a standard ACL recovery.

The crash in Cortina

Vonn made it to her fifth Olympic Games despite suffering an ACL injury a week before the event, during a World Cup race. She decided to compete anyway, but crashed 13 seconds into her downhill run at Cortina in February.

She suffered a compound fracture and a tibial plateau fracture in her left leg, as well as a broken right ankle. She also needed a fasciotomy to save her left leg after developing compartment syndrome, a dangerous build-up of pressure inside the muscle.

Vonn was airlifted from the course to hospital in Treviso, Italy, where she underwent four operations to stabilise the leg before returning to the United States for the remainder of her treatment.

What happens next

Vonn has not decided whether she will race again. She was named in the United States Alpine ski team for the 2026-27 World Cup season despite the uncertainty over her future, and she has refused to rule out a return to competition.

"There's a lot of unanswered questions that I have in my mind and I'm still trying to process everything," she said. "I don't want to close the door on racing. I think I have to be 100%, and I want to get back on the mountain before I can make that judgement."

Vonn is one of Alpine skiing's most decorated athletes, with three Olympic medals and 84 World Cup victories. For now, her focus is on recovery, and any decision about her racing future will wait until she has been through the long rehabilitation ahead.