Lindsey Vonn says she nearly lost her leg after a heavy crash at the Winter Olympics – and has thanked the doctor who saved her from needing an amputation.
The American skiing great, 41, has had multiple operations since breaking her leg and ankle in the women’s downhill event in Italy on 8 February.
Speaking in an Instagram video on Monday,, external she paid tribute to her surgeon for saving her leg and described the injury as “the most extreme, painful and challenging” of her career.
Vonn said her leg was “in pieces” and that she had compartment syndrome, a pressure inside a muscle, which restricts blood flow – and that the surgeon performed a fasciotomy, an emergency operation, to relieve the pressure.
“Dr Tom Hackett saved my leg – he saved it from being amputated,” she said.
“He cut open both sides of my leg, so it was open and let it breathe so to speak. He saved me.”
Vonn, who returned to the United States last week after four operations in Italy, said she has now left hospital and been moved to a hotel, describing it as a “huge step”.
She added that she will be in a wheelchair “for a while” because in addition to the broken leg, she has also broken her ankle.