Lindsey Vonn says it's too early to say whether she'll race again.
In her first interview since the horrific crash during the Olympic downhill that almost necessitated the amputation of her left leg,Vonn told Vanity Fairthat she "doesn't like to close the door on anything."
"You just never know what's going to happen," Vonn said in the interview published March 26. "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.
"It's hard to tell with this injury. It's so (screwed) up," she added. "I really feel like that was a horrible last run to end my career on."
In addition to acomplex tibial fracture in her left leg, Vonn suffered a tibial plateau fracture and fractured fibular head. She also broke her right ankle. But the biggest threat to her heath was that she developedcompartment syndrome.
After her first surgery the day of the crash, Vonn was finally able to sleep in the hospital in Treviso, Italy. But she awoke screaming because her leg had begun swelling, causing extreme pressure that was restricting blood flow. If not treated, it can cause permanent 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," Dr. Tom Hackett, Vonn's longtime orthopedic surgeon who was in Italy, told Vanity Fair.
"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."
Hackett said he measured the swelling in Vonn's leg every few minutes but it didn't improve. Nor was she responding to "every narcotic you can imagine."
Most of the doctors who had been there for Vonn's surgery had gone home. Hackett said he began calling them and saying he needed to get Vonn back into surgery. She recalled waking up, and seeing Hackett.
"There were a bunch of doctors and nurses around me," Vonn told Vanity Fair. "He said, 'Don't worry, I'm going to save your leg. I got this. I'm scrubbing in.'"
Lindsey Vonn's 'definitive, big-dog' leg-saving surgery
Hackett performed a fasciotomy to relieve the pressure, cutting into the connective tissue surrounding the muscles. Vonn awoke to suction pumps attached to her leg to drain the excess blood. She would have two more surgeries in Italy to close the wound.
"It was all about trying to save her skin and muscles, basically," Hackett said.
Though Vonn is grateful for the care she received in Italy – she hasthanked the doctors and nurses there in multiple social media posts– getting to the hospital and then her time there was still traumatic. The helicopter that brought her from Cortina to Treviso had trouble landing because of all the paparazzi.
Vonn also had a shared room, with only a thin curtain separating her from other patients.
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After a little more than a week in the hospital, Vonn was flown back to the United States. Hackett then dida sixth surgeryto repair the broken bones in her leg. A photo she posted afterward showed more than a dozen screws in her leg.
"The definitive, big-dog surgery," Hackett called it.
Vonn's post-Olympic recovery: Letters from Prince William, Tom Brady
Vonn returned to her home in Park City, Utah, on March 1, and has been focused on her recovery. She works with her physical therapist for two hours every morning, spends another two hours in a hyperbaric chamber and then returns home to work out in her gym.
Though she has been cheered by all the support she's received – she got letters from Tom Brady, David Beckham and England's Prince William – she is bothered that all she accomplished in her comeback has been overshadowed by the crash.
"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 retired in 2019 due to the toll of numerous injuries, particularly to her right knee. But a partial replacement of the right knee in April 2024 left her feeling so good she decided to return to ski racing.
While the season was up and down, it culminated with a second-place finish in the super-G at the World Cup finals in Sun Valley, Idaho. With an entire offseason to train and fine-tune her equipment, the 41-year-old was unstoppable.
Vonn's epic comeback story preceded 2026 crashes
Vonn won the season's first downhill and another the next month. She made the podium in every downhill race, andhad a commanding leadin the season standings going into the Olympics.
Despite not skiing the four downhill races after the Olympics, she still finished fifth in the season downhill standings and 12th in the overall race.
"I wanted to win the Olympics, and I wanted to win the downhill title, and I was on track to do both of those things," Vonn told Vanity Fair.
Vonntore her left ACLand suffered meniscus damage and bone bruising in another crash on Jan. 30, in the final World Cup event prior to the start of the Olympics. But she was determined to compete in Milano Cortina, and extensive rehab and strength training ensured her knee was stable enough to do it.
In the final training run before the Olympics began, Vonn posted the third-fastest time before training was canceled due to snow and fog.
Vonn and coach Aksel Lund Svindal insist her torn ACL had nothing to do with her crash during the downhill. Instead, she got slightly off her line and hooked a gate. While some races have breakaway flags, the Olympics did not.
"It was a very, very small error. We're talking about a few centimeters," Svindal said. "She paid a high price."
Lindsey Vonn supporters react after Vonn's crash during the women's downhill race at the 2026 Olympic Winter Games at the Tofane Alpine Skiing Centre in Cortina d'Ampezzo on Feb. 8, 2026." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 
See terrible second crash for Lindsey Vonn
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Lindsey Vonn talks crash, recovery and future in Vanity Fair interview