Lindsey Vonn is recovering under ‘cover’.
The 41-year-old alpine skiing legend appears on the latest cover of Vanity Fair just weeks after nearly losing his left leg in a devastating accident at the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics. Photographed by photographer Quill Lemons at her home in Park City, Utah, Vonn poses in a black dress with a thigh-high slit, her bandaged leg front and center.
On the cover, Vuong wore a Morno high-slit T-neck gown ($1,295) and a Rolex watch. Inside, she wore a similarly leg-baring dress, this time in a halter style by Akris.
Vonn’s arm got caught in a gate just 13 seconds into her downhill run on February 8, sending her flying down the course at high speed, shattering her tibia, fibula and ankle. She was airlifted from the mountain by helicopter as the world watched.
The damage was so severe that Vonn almost lost her left leg to compartment syndrome, a dangerous condition that puts pressure on the leg and cuts off blood flow. Her doctors performed emergency surgery in the middle of the night at a hospital in Treviso, Italy, to save her limbs.
“I was aiming for world No. 1 and potentially an Olympic medal,” Vonn told Vanity Fair. “Now I’m in a wheelchair.”
Vonn underwent multiple surgeries on her shattered leg and returned home in early March. She now spends her days in physical therapy and daily hyperbaric chamber sessions.
In the magazine’s accompanying video, Vonn read out messages of support from Prince William, Cristiano Ronaldo, Arnold Schwarzenegger and others.
A letter from the Prince of Wales praised Bonn’s courage and resilience. “I never expected Prince William to be looking at me, let alone taking the time to write me a letter,” she said with a laugh, adding that she had offered to take him and his family skiing “maybe in a while, but someday.”
The three-time Olympic medalist came out of retirement in November 2024 at the age of 40 to become the oldest World Cup downhill winner in history and head into the Olympics at the top of the downhill standings. She raced in Cortina despite tearing her anterior cruciate ligament just nine days earlier at the World Cup event in Crans-Montana, Switzerland.
“I don’t want people to dwell on this accident and be remembered for it,” Bonn told the magazine. “What I did before the Olympics is something I’ve never done before.”
