Lindsey Vonn Opens Up About What She Doesn’t Want to be ‘Remembered for’ After Olympic Crash

Vonn gave her first sit-down interview since undergoing multiple surgeries after her Olympic crash.

Lindsey Vonn doesn’t want to be remembered for her final run, where she crashed and had to be airlifted off the slope. | Leonhard Foeger/Reuters via Imagn Images

Legendary skier Lindsey Vonn made her incredible return to the Olympic slopes at Milan Cortina last month, but the experience definitely didn’t end the way she planned.

The three-time gold medalist entered the 2026 Winter Games expecting to make history by winning another medal at age 41. However, she ended up crashing during the women’s downhill event on Feb. 8. Vonn suffered a devastating leg injury and had to be airlifted off the course. She has since undergone multiple surgeries, and nearly lost her left leg. But, her doctors found other ways to repair her complex tibia fracture (among other issues) to avoid the worst case scenario.

Since her crash, people understandably think of this terrifying moment when Vonn’s name comes up. It’s still fresh in many people’s memories, and Vonn is still recovering. However, Vonn doesn’t want to be remembered for that crash. She opened up about the aftermath in her first sit-down interview since the Olympics with Vanity Fair.

“I don’t want people to hang on this crash and be remembered for that,” Vonn said. “What I did before the Olympics has never been done before. I was number one in the standings. No one remembers that I was winning.”

Vonn has consistently expressed that she has “no regrets” on returning to the Olympic stage, even with what ended up happening on the slopes. In the interview with VF, Vonn doubled down on quieting the narrative that she shouldn’t have competed in the first place.

“Everyone said it was reckless and I was taking a spot from somebody else and all this nonsense,” Vonn said. “I’m not crazy. I know what I can do and what I can’t do.”

As for her future in skiing, it sounds like Vonn still isn’t ready to make a decision about what her career holds.

“I don’t like to close the door on anything, because you just never know what’s going to happen,” Vonn said. “I have no idea what my life will be like in two years or three years or four years. I could have two kids by then. I could have no kids and want to race again. I could live in Europe. I could be doing anything.”

Obviously, Vonn can’t really make a decision until she figures out how she feels after recovery and rehab from her various surgeries. Skiing is definitely something she can’t jump immediately back into unless she feels healthy enough, especially at the level she’s used to competing at.

But, it all trickles back to her goal of not being remembered just for the devastating final run she had at Milan Cortina. She wants her legacy to consist of all the incredible accomplishments she completed on the slopes.

“It’s hard to tell with this injury. It’s so f---ed up. I really feel like that was a horrible last run to end my career on. ... I only made it 13 seconds. But they were a really good 13 seconds.”

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