Lindsey Vonn has shared an emotional statement confirming that she has finally left hospital following a severe leg injury sustained at the Winter Olympics. Vonn was airlifted to hospital whilst competing in the downhill event at the Games in Italy earlier this month, just days after suffering an ACL injury.

Vonn underwent several surgeries, with the skiing legend initially being released from hospital in Italy to travel back to the United States for further treatment. In a heartfelt Instagram post, Vonn revealed details of the injuries she sustained, including compartment syndrome and a broken ankle, and how her surgeon prevented her from losing her leg.

“I had a complex tibia fracture, I also fractured my fibula head and everything was in pieces, and the reason it was so complex was because I had compartment syndrome” Vonn began in a video posted on Instagram.

“Compartment syndrome is when you have so much trauma to one area of your body that there is too much blood and it gets stuck. It basically crushes everything in the compartment - muscles, nerves, tendons, it all dies.

• Winter Olympics viewing figures for BBC after tears in studio and injury shocks

• Winter Olympics president threatens to sack £420k PR chief in awkward press conference

“Dr Tom Hackett saved my leg, he saved my leg from being amputated. He did what is called a fasciotomy, where he cut open both sides of my leg, let it breathe, and he saved me.”

JOIN US ON FACEBOOK!All the best sports news and much more on our dedicated Facebook page

Vonn added: “I always talk about everything happening for a reason. If I hadn't torn my ACL, which I would have done anyway in this crash, Tom [Hackett] wouldn't have been there, he wouldn't have been able to save my leg.

“I feel very lucky and grateful for him, for this six-hour surgery he put in to rebuild it, which went amazingly well.”

Vonn also revealed why she stayed in hospital longer than anticipated, and provided a timeline for the upcoming phases of her recovery. “I was in the hospital a little longer than I hoped because I had very low haemoglobin from the blood loss from all the surgeries,” Vonn said.

“I was really struggling, the pain was a little bit out of control and I had to have a blood transfusion. That helped me a lot and I turned the corner and now I am out.”

Vonn continued: “I am in a wheelchair right now, I am very much immobile, and I will be in a wheelchair for a while because I also broke my right ankle.

“I hope I can be on crutches in a little bit but we will see, and I will probably be on crutches for at least two months. But I’ll get right to work on rehab and see what I can do and take it one step at a time, like I always do.”

Vonn shared the video alongside an lengthy caption, which also outlined a possible timeline for a complete recovery that may necessitate additional surgery down the line.

“I’m finally out of the hospital!!! After almost two weeks of laying in a hospital bed almost completely immobile, I’m finally well enough to move to a hotel,” Vonn wrote. “It’s not home yet, but it’s a huge step!

“I hope I explained my injury well enough. I’m not a doctor so if I don’t explain something perfectly please forgive me. When the injury happened the situation was quite challenging in many ways but in the end, the situation was brought back into control. Again, thank you Dr Tom Hackett.

“Now I will focus on rehab and progressing from a wheelchair to crutches in a few weeks. It will take around a year for all of the bones to heal and then I will decide if I want to take out all the metal or not, and then go back into surgery and finally fix my ACL.

“It will be a long road but I’ll get there. At least I’m out of the hospital. Love you all.”

Ensure our latest sport headlines always appear at the top of your Google Search by making us a Preferred Source. Click here to activate or add us as Preferred Source in your Google search settings.