Dr. Hackett Details Vonn's Non-Opioid Recovery After Olympic Crash

Aspen —The air in Cortina d’Ampezzo is thin and sharp, the kind that bites at your lungs when you’re standing on a ski slope at 4,000 meters. On Feb. 8, that air was still enough to make Lindsey Vonn’s crash feel like a distant thunderclap until the dust settled and the reality hit.

She was gone. Airlifted away from the downhill course at the 2026 Winter Olympics, her body a tangle of pain that even the most experienced medical team on the mountain struggled to manage.

The Vail Daily reported that in the immediate aftermath, the medical staff leaned heavily on opioids. It’s a standard first response to trauma, but it’s also a trap. For Vonn, the road back didn’t start until she was back on American soil.

That’s where Dr. Tom Hackett comes in. As Vonn’s surgeon and the chief medical officer for U.S. Ski & Snowboard, Hackett has been embedded with the team for decades. He’s not a coach in the traditional sense; he’s the guy running around with jackets and wax supplies until someone breaks a bone. Then, as he put it to the Vail Daily in October, he kicks into place.

Hackett watched the crash unfold from the sidelines. “She had done exceptionally well leading up to that day, despite having had an injury,” he said. “And then obviously, her crash needs no description. That was devastating to see that happen.”

The injury itself came with what Hackett called an “extraordinary amount of pain.” While in Italy, the team used whatever resources were available — mostly opioids. But upon returning to the United States, they pivoted. They introduced a relatively new medication called JOURNAVX, a non-opioid option for moderate to severe pain.

This is the part everyone skips past: the logistics of recovery aren’t just about physical therapy or surgery. They’re about pain management, and specifically, how you manage it without creating a new dependency problem for an athlete who needs to be sharp enough to ski.

The 2026-27 Stifel US Alpine Ski Team roster was announced earlier this month, and Vonn’s name is on it. That listing sparked immediate speculation. After all, she came out of retirement last year, and a crash this severe often ends careers. But Vonn has spent more years than not on that roster throughout the last two decades.

Still, there hasn’t been any indication from Vonn — on traditional media or social, as to whether she’ll actually be competing this season. Hackett, bound by doctor-patient privilege, isn’t breaking that silence to share specific timelines. He’s only offered a glimpse into the recovery process, highlighting the shift toward non-opioid treatments as a key component of her return.

The Vail Daily noted that Hackett will lead medical strategy and operations for U.S. Ski & Snowboard ahead of the 2030 Olympic Winter Games. His role is expanding, but his focus on Vonn’s immediate recovery remains central to the team’s current narrative.

Back in Beaver Creek, where Hackett first worked with Vonn at the Birds of Prey races, the mountain is quiet now. The snow is deep and fresh. Somewhere in that landscape, a former world champion is navigating the slow, painful work of rebuilding her body. The roster says she’s here. The silence from Vonn suggests the story isn’t finished yet.