Lindsey Vonn is in good spirits - but has a long road ahead of her - while laid up in Italy following an Olympic crash that broke her leg. "Thank you so much to everyone that has been sending me flowers and letters and sharks!" Vonn, 41, said via an Instagram video on Friday, February 13, giving fans an update on her progress after she wiped out on the women's downhill at the 2026 Winter Olympics on Sunday, February 8. The professional skier cracked a smile, showing off a toy shark that someone sent her, adding that the "stuffed animals" she's received have been a bright spot after the tragic crash. "It's just been so amazing and really helped me a lot," Vonn said of the public's support. "It's been quite a hard few days in the hospital here. I'm finally feeling more like myself." Lindsey Vonn Shares Hospital Photos After 3rd Surgery Following Olympic Crash The Olympic gold medalist confessed, "I have a long, long way to go," including more procedures to work on her leg. "Tomorrow I'll have another surgery and hopefully that goes well. And then I can potentially leave and go back home, at which point I will need another surgery," Vonn shared. "[I] still don't know exactly what that entails yet until I get some better imaging." For now, the athlete said, "I'm just in the hospital, very much immobile. But I have a lot of friends and family that have been coming to visit." Vonn noted that the staff at the hospital in Treviso, Italy, has been "incredible," and her medical team is "amazing." Lindsey Vonn. Courtesy of Lindsey Vonn/Instagram "I feel very lucky and fortunate to have so many people around me that have really helped me get through this," she continued. Vonn concluded by giving a shout-out to her teammates. "I just want to say thank you and go Team USA! It's been so great to watch and really lifted my spirits," she revealed. "Good job team and keep crushing it." Vonn also shared an Instagram Story photo of a card she received from a 5-year-old fan, who told her, "Don't give up." The athlete responded by writing, "I never will." Courtesy of Lindsey Vonn/Instagram Vonn is an alpine ski racing legend, having won four World Cup overall championships, plus World Cup titles in downhill and super-G throughout her career. Vonn won a gold medal in downhill at the 2010 Winter Olympics and a bronze in super-G, followed by a bronze in downhill at the 2018 Winter Olympics. Her journey to the 2026 Winter Olympics has been full of roadblocks, including tearing her ACL during a World Cup race in Switzerland on January 30. "After extensive consultations with doctors, intense therapy, physical tests as well as skiing today, I have determined I am capable of competing in the Olympic Downhill on Sunday," Vonn said on February 1, confirming she would race without her ACL. "Of course I will still need to do one training run, as is required to race on Sunday, but... I am confident in my body's ability to perform. Despite my injuries my knee is stable, I do not have swelling and my muscles are firing and reacting as they should." Team USA Shares Update on Lindsey Vonn After 2026 Olympics Crash Amid ACL Tear When the time came for Vonn to hit the slope for downhill on Sunday, tragedy struck just 13 seconds into the race. She crashed on the course, eventually being airlifted to an Italian hospital. The Ca' Foncello hospital in Italy announced in a statement later that day that Vonn "underwent an orthopedic operation to stabilize a fracture reported in her left leg" and was being "treated by a multidisciplinary team." Lindsey Vonn. Stefano RELLANDINI/AFP Vonn broke her silence about the accident on Monday, February 9, revealing that her crash had nothing to do with her ACL issue. "Yesterday my Olympic dream did not finish the way I dreamt it would," Vonn wrote via Instagram. "It wasn't a story book ending or a fairy [tale], it was just life. I dared to dream and had worked so hard to achieve it. Because in Downhill ski racing the difference between a strategic line and a catastrophic injury can be as small as 5 inches." The Olympic skier explained that she was "simply 5 inches too tight on my line when my right arm hooked inside of the gate, twisting me and resulted in my crash." Lindsey Vonn Reveals Extent of Her Injury, Exactly What Went Wrong During Crash She explained, "My ACL and past injuries had nothing to do with my crash whatsoever. Unfortunately, I sustained a complex tibia fracture that is currently stable but will require multiple surgeries to fix properly." Two days later, Vonn shared her first photos from the hospital after undergoing her third "successful" surgery. "Success today has a completely different meaning than it did a few days ago," Vonn said in an Instagram statement on Wednesday, February 11, sharing pictures from her hospital bed with rods in her left leg. "I'm making progress and while it is slow, I know I'll be OK." She added, "Thankful for all of the incredible medical staff, friends, family, who ha