Vonn said she takes comfort in knowing that Leo, to whom she had to say goodbye from her Italian hospital bed, is no longer in pain

Lindsey Vonn and her dog Leo.Credit : Lindsey Vonn/Instagram

Lindsey Vonn is mourning the loss of her beloved dog Leo, who died just one day after the star skier crashed at the 2026 Winter Olympics.

Vonn, 41, announced 13-year-old Leo’s death on Instagram on Wednesday, Feb. 18, saying that she had to say “goodbye to my big boy” while laid up in a hospital bed overseas in Italy.

“Leo has passed away and joined Lucy and Bear up in heaven 🪽,” she captioned a post full of photos of her and her pet. “This has been an incredibly hard few days. Probably the hardest o[f] life. I still have not come to terms that he is gone…”

Vonn said that on Feb. 8, the same day she crashed while competing in the women’s downhill event on a torn ACL, Leo crashed too, as he started experiencing heart failure amid a recent lung cancer diagnosis. He died the next day.

“He was in pain and his body could no longer keep up with his strong mind,” she wrote. “I had lost so much that meant something to me in such a short amount of time. I can’t believe it. My boy has been with me since my second ACL injury, when I needed him most. He held me on the sofa as I watched the Sochi Olympics. He lifted me up when I was down. He [laid] by me, and cuddle[d] me, always making me feel safe and loved. We have been through so much together in 13 years.”

Vonn — who recently returned to the U.S. after undergoing multiple surgeries on her leg in Italy — said it will be a while before she can “emotionally process things,” but knows that her pup “will always be with me.”

Lindsey Vonn and her dog Leo.Lindsey Vonn/Instagram

She also expressed comfort in knowing that Leo is now with her mother Linda, who died in 2022, plus her late dogs Lucy, whom she lost last year, and Bear, who died in 2022.

“I know he’s up there with Lucy and Bear and my mom and grandparents and so many people I have lost in the past few years,” she wrote. “I take [peace] knowing he’s not in pain anymore. There will never be another Leo. He will always be my first love.”

Vonn ended her message by telling her followers that she’s undergoing additional surgery today, and will “be thinking of him when I close my eyes.”

“I will love you forever my big boy 🤍,” she wrote.

The Olympian previously opened up to PEOPLE in July about how competing in the Winter Games would be difficult without Lucy, a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel who died at 9 years old.

“It’s horrible,” said Vonn, who described the pup as her “trusty, trusty companion.” “She traveled the world. She was at the last Olympics, so it’s going to be hard to be at the Games without her.”