Lindsey Vonn is currently living by the motto, “No pain, no gain,” and her recovery videos prove it.
The professional athlete, 41, shared a brutal video of her injured leg on Friday, March 13, following her 2026 Winter Olympics crash that resulted in multiple surgeries earlier this year.
In the clip shared via Vonn’s Instagram Story, she can be seen breathing heavily as a physical therapist pushes her bad leg down for a few seconds. Vonn grimaces in pain and bites her lip as the therapist counts down.
“Had to do this …,” Vonn captioned the video, which also gave fans a glimpse at two separate surgery spots covered by big bandages.
The Olympic gold medalist then shared a second video via social media, showing the payoff for her pain.
“So I could do this,” Vonn wrote alongside the clip of her happily riding a recovery bike and peddling smoothly for the first time since her crash.
Vonn has a big smile on her face as she goes through the motion and moves both legs with more ease.
Vonn represented Team USA at the Olympics in Italy in February despite tearing her ACL at a World Cup race in Switzerland on January 30.
When Vonn took the slopes at the Olympics on February 8 for her women’s downhill run tragedy struck just 13 seconds in.
She crashed and was later airlifted from the course to a hospital where Vonn eventually underwent an orthopedic operation to stabilize a fracture reported in her left leg,” according to a statement released by the Ca’ Foncello hospital at the time.
Vonn gave fans a look at her leg after her third successful surgery on February 11, showing rods in her left leg.
“[I’m] thankful for all of the incredible medical staff, friends, family, who have been by my side and the beautiful outpouring of love and support from people around the world,” she wrote via Instagram at the time.
After a fourth surgery in Italy, Vonn was allowed to travel back to the United States. Upon her return on February 17, the skier underwent a few more surgeries.
Vonn was released from the hospital on February 23, revealing that the damage to her leg was much worse than she’d shared previously.
New details are emerging after Team USA’s Lindsey Vonn crashed at the 2026 Winter Olympics. Vonn, 41, is being “treated by a multidisciplinary team” and “underwent an orthopedic operation to stabilize a fracture reported in her left leg,” the Ca’ Foncello hospital said in a statement on Sunday, February 8, according to the Associated Press. […]
“Dr. Tom Hackett saved my leg,” Vonn explained in a social media post at the time. “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.”
In March, Vonn started to share photos and videos from her physical therapy treatments after getting out of her wheelchair.
“Definitely some hard times but still thankful … still working hard. The only goal is to get healthy. One day at a time. #icandothis,” she captioned a video from the gym on March 5.
