Just a month after Lindsey Vonn suffered a devastating knee injury that almost cost her a leg while competing at the Winter Olympics, her sister has now endured the same fate.
Vonn’s younger sister, Karin Kildow, has torn her ACL as the family’s horrible luck with injuries continued. It is unclear how Kildow suffered her injury but the Olympics legend posted a video of her struggling on crutches on Wednesday.
Vonn, 41, was seen lying on the floor in a weight room with a bandage around her left knee when Kildow entered with her walking aid and a huge brace on her right knee.
Despite the gruesome injury, she looked upbeat and waved at the camera with her crutch. Vonn captioned the post: ‘Karin, Patient No. 2 – torn ACL. Welcome to the Vonn Rehab Center.’
Kildow later posted a video to her own account of Vonn assessing her sister’s knee and its mobility as they now prepare to go through rehabilitation together.
Kildow added: ‘First appointment with my new physiotherapist.’ And asked her followers: ‘Should I pay her for this?’
The 33-year-old Kildow was present in Milan-Cortina when Vonn suffered her horrific fall on the slopes. She was then helping her sister in hospital during the emotional early stages of her recovery.
Lindsey Vonn has revealed her younger sister has also suffered a serious knee injury
Karin Kildow shared a photo of the Winter Olympics legend assessing her torn ACL injury
In late February, after returning to the United States, Vonn shared an emotional and detailed video about how close she came to losing her leg. She underwent four surgeries in Italy, having also fractured her complex tibia.
‘It has been quite the journey, and by far the most extreme and painful and challenging injury I’ve ever faced in my entire life,’ she said.
‘I had a complex tibia fracture. Also fractured my fibular head, my tibular plateau, just kind of everything was in pieces. And the reason why it was so complex was because I had compartment syndrome.’
Compartment syndrome is a buildup of pressure in the muscles caused by blood. Vonn said that her surgeon had to perform a fasciotomy to save her left leg from being amputated in a six-hour procedure.
And to make her recovery even tougher, Vonn tore her ACL days before the Winter Olympics crash in question, meaning that eventually she will need surgery to repair that.
An ACL surgery alone can take professional athletes around nine months to recover from.
Vonn had returned to the circuit last season after nearly six years of retirement and after a partial titanium replacement surgery in her right knee.
Her recovery, so far, seems to be going well though. She recently shared video of her on an exercise bike as part of her rehab. And anyone who assumed it marked the end of an incredible career is, it seems, mistaken.
Kildow was in Italy when her older sister suffered the sickening crash at the Winter Olympics
Last week, Vonn clashed with accounts on social media before releasing an emotional statement on Sunday insisting that nobody can tell her when to call it a day.
First, Vonn replied to a social media account with just 30 followers that referenced the apparent end of her skiing days by saying: ‘Who said I was retiring?’
A fan replied: ‘The ego is so strong in this one. Take your medicine Lindsey. You nearly lost your leg. Put your feet up and be done.’
Vonn then answered back: ‘Think you’re mistaking ego for joy. I’ve said it my whole life; I love skiing. I’ll put my feet up when I’m good and ready thank you.’
Vonn then took to social media with a wider message on what comes next, saying: ‘No, I’m not ready to discuss my future in skiing. My focus has been on recovering from my injury and getting back to normal life. I was already retired for 6 years and have an amazing life outside of skiing.
‘It was incredible to be #1 in the world again at 41 years old and set new records in my sport, but at my age, I’m the only one that will decide my future. I don’t need anyone’s permission to do what makes me happy.
‘Maybe that means racing again, maybe that doesn’t. Only time will tell. Please stop telling me what I should or should not do. I’ll let you know when I decide.’
The skiing legend suffered a broken left leg after she crashed in the women’s downhill race
Kildow posted several pictures of her with her sister, who needed four surgeries, from hospital
Her answers may cause concern within her own family – even Vonn’s father said her career was over shortly after her leg break at the recent Winter Games.
‘She’s 41 years old and this is the end of her career,’ Alan Kildow told Associated Press. ‘There will be no more ski races for Lindsey Vonn, as long as I have anything to say about it.’
Kidow said of seeing his daughter crash: ‘First, the shock and the horror of the whole thing, seeing a crash like that… it can be dramatic and traumatic. You’re just horrified at what those kinds of impacts have.
‘You can go into a shock and emotional psychological shock… it’s difficult to just accept what’s happened.’
