Lindsey Vonn has paid an emotional tribute to her late mother on International Women’s Day, saying she is inspiring her through her recovery from a badly broken leg.
Vonn’s mom Lindy passed away in 2021 from ALS, a neurodegenerative disease. And on top of battling ALS, Lindy also had a stroke giving birth to her daughter and walked with a minor limp in her left leg from then on.
Her death was part of the reason why Vonn attempted a comeback at this year’s Winter Olympics, where she crashed and broke her leg so badly, it could have been amputated.
After multiple surgeries, both in Italy and the United States, Vonn is finally home and beginning the long road of rehab. But on Sunday, International Women’s Day, she was thinking of her mother.
Sharing one picture of Lindy cheering her on by the slopes, Vonn wrote: ‘My forever inspo! Love you Mom.’
And a second image was captioned: ‘The most positive and resilient woman I have ever known! If she can be positive, so can I!’
Vonn, 41, has often spoken about how her mother is one of her biggest inspirations.
In June 2022, when she was inducted into the US Olympic Hall of Fame, Vonn said of Lindy: ‘She’s taught me so much about strength and character, and it’s because of the example that my mother set that I was able to overcome whatever obstacle was thrown at me.’
Vonn’s comeback culminated in the Winter Olympics in Italy last month. She had torn her ACL in an event shortly before the Games began but remarkably insisted she was fine to continue.
At the Olympics, Vonn clipped a gate high up on the Olympia delle Tofane course in Cortina d’Ampezzo and crashed hard – causing an ugly leg break and ending her time in Italy.
Vonn had four surgeries in Italy and another in the US. Most recently, Vonn underwent a six-hour procedure aimed at rebuilding the leg and covering the skin to avoid infection, according to NPR.
After finally leaving hospital in late February, Vonn admitted that some of the battles she would face to return to full health would be mental ones.
‘Today was a hard day… my physical battle began the second I got hurt but the mental battle started today,’ she wrote on X the day after her hospital departure. ‘It hit me like a ton of bricks.
‘It’s a battle I’m used to because I’ve done it so many times. I have always learned from every injury.
‘Each one has made me a better and stronger person in different ways… but the battle of the mind can be dark and hard and unrelenting.
‘Someone I care about said I am a “master at the psychological game of life…”
‘I don’t know if that’s true…. I do know hard days are coming but I will find a way back to the top of the mountain of life.’
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