In a powerful move that transcends sports, Olympic icon Lindsey Vonn is using her global platform to thank the medical team that orchestrated her historic comeback from a career-ending knee injury, launching a campaign that puts healthcare workers in the spotlight as she prepares for the Milano Cortina Olympics.
For Lindsey Vonn, the path to the 2026 Milano Cortina Olympics wasn’t just about training and physical preparation. It was paved with gratitude. The skiing legend, who has overcome a litany of devastating injuries to become one of the most decorated alpine skiers in history, has found a unique way to thank the people who made her return possible: a national ad campaign celebrating the medical profession.
Vonn has partnered with FIGS, an apparel maker for healthcare workers, on a campaign that launches January 26 on NBC and its platforms. The campaign, titled “It takes heart to build bodies that break records,” directly honors the medical team that guided her through a groundbreaking partial knee replacement and recovery. The campaign will run through the duration of the Winter Games, which take place from February 6-22.
“This comeback, I wouldn’t be doing this at all if it hadn’t been for the medical team that believed in me and that supported me and basically held my hand through everything,” Vonn told USA TODAY Sports. “I feel privileged to be able to have worked with such extraordinary people, and I want to recognize their effort. And not just their effort, but all of the medical staff that’s helped Team USA and all medical staffs in general. They just are under recognized.”
A Comeback Defying Medical Odds
To understand the significance of this campaign, one must understand Vonn’s journey. The 2010 Olympic downhill champion’s career was a story of triumph told against a backdrop of persistent, often career-threatening, injuries. Her right knee, in particular, had suffered catastrophic damage, leading many to believe her competitive days were over long before she officially retired in 2019. The pain had become unbearable, a constant reminder of a body pushed to its absolute limits.
“This is me, Lindsey Vonn, downhill skiing champion,” Vonn says in a clip for the campaign, as images of her skiing are replaced by X-rays of her battered joint, “with a body broken beyond repair.”
The turning point came in April 2024 with a revolutionary procedure: a partial titanium knee replacement. While artificial knees are common in older patients, Vonn is the first elite skier to return to the sport at this level after such an operation. Orthopedic surgeon Dr. Martin Roche used a robotic arm to meticulously remove the damaged bone and cartilage on the outside of Vonn’s right knee, replacing it with titanium while preserving her ACL and meniscus to maintain the “feel” she relied on for racing.
Within days of the surgery, Vonn could bend and straighten her knee for the first time in years. The recovery was so successful that she began to entertain a wild idea: could she race again?
From Pain-Free Living to Podiums
Her return has been nothing short of spectacular. Back on the World Cup circuit in December 2024, Vonn finished last season with a silver medal in the super-G at the World Cup finals in Sun Valley, Idaho. This season, with a full offseason to train, she has been dominant in speed races, making the podium in all five downhills and two of the first three super-Gs.
“When I did the surgery, it was literally just to live a pain-free life,” Vonn said. “And it was way more than I bargained for. Which I’m very happy about.”
But this comeback wasn’t the work of one doctor. It was a symphony of medical expertise. The campaign puts the spotlight on the individuals who orchestrated her recovery: Dr. Tom Hackett, the orthopedic surgeon who has performed many of Vonn’s previous surgeries; Lorenzo Gonzalez, a physical therapist and acupuncturist who realigned her body, which had been compensating for her knee for years; and the nurses who supported her through every step of the process.
“I want people to be able to hopefully find solutions that allow them to be in the similar position that I’m in, where they are pain-free,” Vonn said. “But it wouldn’t happen without the medical team.”
A Campaign for the Unsung Heroes
FIGS, a U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee sponsor, will provide apparel for Team USA’s medical staff in Milano Cortina. The company sought to create an ad campaign around the Winter Games and found the perfect partner in Vonn, whose story embodies resilience and collaboration.
“(Vonn) is just such a testament to believing in yourself and getting the right people around you to create history and break records, which is what this campaign’s all about,” said Trina Spear, CEO and co-founder of FIGS. “Her team of healthcare professionals believed that they could put her back together and fix her so she could go out and win medals, which she’s doing again.”
The campaign features both shorter clips and a 1-minute film that puts the focus squarely on Vonn’s medical team, shifting the narrative from the athlete to the support system. Spear noted that the goal is to give these professionals “a podium of their own.”
“We’re really proud to tell that story and they deserve it,” Spear added. “They deserve it just as much as Lindsey deserves her, hopefully, gold medal during the Olympic Games.”
As Vonn prepares to be one of the biggest stars of the Milano Cortina Games, favored to win medals in downhill, super-G, and team events, she carries with her the unwavering support of the very people she is now celebrating. Several of her medical team members will be in Cortina to watch her compete. Vonn has always thanked them personally; now, with this campaign, she is thanking the world.
For fans, this story adds a new layer of inspiration to Vonn’s Olympic quest. It’s not just about a skier defying age and injury; it’s about the profound, often unseen, collaboration between an athlete and her medical team to achieve the seemingly impossible.
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