OLYMPICS: Injured skier Lindsey Vonn leaves Italian hospital, heading back to US

CORTINA D'AMPEZZO - U.S. skier Lindsey Vonn was discharged on Sunday from the Italian hospital where she was admitted a week ago after the horrific crash that ended her Olympic comeback, two sources close to the matter said.

Vonn, the 2010 Olympic champion and second most successful female World Cup skier of all time, was heading to the airport in the northern Italian town of Treviso.

The U.S. skier said on Saturday that her fourth round of surgery had gone well and she looked forward to returning home to America.

Under treatment in the Ca' Foncello Hospital in Treviso since last Sunday, the 41-year-old said she was improving after some difficult days but warned that she still had “a long, long way to go” with another operation scheduled in the United States.

She had been hoping to become the oldest Alpine skiing medallist in Games history after winning two World Cup downhills this year and finishing on the podium in the other three.

"The love I have for skiing remains. I am still looking forward to the moment when I can stand on the top of the mountain once more. And I will," she said in the Instagram post on Saturday.

Vonn suffered a complex tibia fracture after crashing 13 seconds into her race. Orthopaedic specialists say recovery from a complex tibial fracture typically takes eight to 11 months before an athlete can return to competition

They pointed to the example of 35‑year‑old Federica Brignone, Italy's most successful female skier, who won super-G gold on Thursday only 10 months after suffering multiple leg fractures and a torn anterior cruciate ligament.

"Congrats Fede!! What an incredible comeback!!" Vonn wrote on X after the Italian skier's victory in Cortina.

-Reporting by Sara Rossi; Editing by Giselda Vagnoni and David Goodman/Reuters