What happened to Lindsey Vonn? Everything that led to the ski star's surgery

Retired skier Lindsey Vonn recently underwent knee replacement surgery after struggling with injuries for years. The skier shared the news of her successful surgery with her fans on her social media. She described the complete procedure of her knee replacement and how she had been preparing for it since 2023.

39-year-old Lindsey Vonn has engraved her name as the most celebrated Olympic skier ever. In her decade-long career, she bagged the gold medal in downhill and a bronze medal in the Super-G at the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. In 2018, she won another bronze medal in the downhill at Pyeongchang. Moreover, Vonn is renowned as a four-time overall World Cup winner and also holds the third-highest super ranking among all male and female skiers.

However, amidst Vonn’s gleaming skiing career, she has also endured some of the most nerve-wracking injuries. The retired skier has a history of multiple knee injuries in 2007, 2012, and 2014 that caused issues throughout her career.

Recently, Vonn underwent knee replacement under the supervision of her long-time doctor, Dr. Hackett. In an Instagram post, the former skier shared her picture from the hospital. Vonn penned down a note that revealed that the undertaking came as a result of “severe tri-compartment degeneration” in her knee. The major factor in her surgery was influenced by the pain in “the lateral compartment, or the outside of my knee.”

Vonn had opted for ways to slow down “the need for the replacement.” However, she had to undergo surgery for the ‘inevitable’ parts of her knee. Vonn added that her struggles with her knee interrupted the things she loved to do. The skier wrote,

"But I got to the point where it was too much and my knee could not handle doing the things I love to do."

She continued,

"So Dr. Roche did a Mako Robot assisted lateral unicompartmental replacement. In other words, they cut off part of my bone and replaced it with titanium pieces. *in pic."

Lastly, the Olympic skier expressed her thankfulness to the team of medical experts who operated on her. Moreover, the skier is in her recovery stage and hopes to “be back up and running asap.”

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Lindsey Vonn’s devastating knee injuries throughout her career

Lindsey Vonn at FIS World Ski Championships - Women's Downhill

Lindsey Vonn experienced her first ACL accident during the training session of the 2007 World Championships. While skiing in slalom, she suffered a season-ending ACL sprain.

In the 2013 world championship, Vonn crashed brutally in the opening race of the super-G. Her medical examination revealed that she had torn her medial collateral and anterior cruciate ligaments in her right knee along with a fractured tibial plateau, calling an end to her season.

A year later, Vonn was preparing for her comeback at the 2013-2014 World Cup, when she crashed again while training at the Copper Mountain, Colo. This time, she was diagnosed with a mild strain and partial tear of the ACL in her right knee. The crash also left her with minor facial abrasions and scapular contusions.

Lastly, during the training session for the 2015-2016 World Cup, Vonn experienced a hairline fracture in her left knee. However, she chose to race the next day. Later on, when she underwent a complete medical examination, the skier was found with three large fractures that forced her to end her season.

After experiencing injuries in her spinal joint, arms, and ankle, Lindsey Vonn announced her retirement in 2019.