Athlete Bios
Alpine Skiing
USA's nearly untouchable Lindsey Vonn
Last Updated: Thursday, February 11, 2010 | 1:33 PM ET
New York Times for CBC Sports
On Jan. 10, 2010, Lindsey Vonn became the third American (male or female) to win three days in a row on the World Cup circuit. Above, she reacts after winning the super G event. (Samuel Kubani/Getty Images)The first American woman to win consecutive World Cup overall championships, Lindsey Vonn is widely considered to be the world's best female ski racer and has become the most decorated American female downhill racer ever.
Vonn dominated the World Cup circuit in 2008-09, when she won individual titles in the downhill and the super-G, the first American woman to win the latter. Vonn, who speaks German, became a European sports icon when she won five consecutive super-G races, sometimes by wide margins. At the 2009 world championships, she won two gold medals to go along with the two silver medals she won in the 2007 world championships.
Vonn is a five-event ski racer who has more World Cup victories (22 entering the 2009-10 season) than any American woman. She has won races in every event but the giant slalom. Although far more accomplished in the speed events of downhill and super-G, she did improve her slalom skiing last year enough to win two races and finish among the top three two other times.
Although Vonn has appeared in two Olympics, she has yet to win a medal. She was 17 years old at the Salt Lake Games in 2002, when she finished a surprising sixth in the combined. A medal favourite heading into the 2006 Turin Olympics, Vonn had a horrifying crash at 95 km/h in downhill training days before the Games began. She was airlifted to a hospital, and medical personnel at first thought she had broken her back. But Vonn escaped with only severe bruising and a concussion. Although she had trouble walking, she competed in the super-G and the downhill, finishing seventh and eighth. For her courageous competitive character, Vonn was voted an Olympic spirit award.
Vonn is a favourite to win two or three gold medals at the Vancouver Games and will contend for five medals overall. No American alpine ski racer has won more than two Olympic medals, of any type, in a career.
Born on Oct. 18, 1984, in St. Paul, Minn., Vonn began skiing when she was two years old at a tiny suburban ski area called Buck Hill, where she was fortunate to learn under Erich Sailer, a renowned junior ski racing coach who has produced several Olympians. By the time she was nine, Vonn was training in Europe. At 11, she moved to Vail, Colo., to hone her downhill and speed skills. Her ascent was quick and she became the first American female to win the famed Topolino international race for 11- to 14-year-olds held in Italy. More junior world championships followed, and six weeks after her 16th birthday she competed in her first World Cup race.
The NBC television network is planning to position Vonn as the Michael Phelps of the 2010 Olympics - at least for its American audience. Ski racing, because it is contested outside in changeable conditions, is far less predictable than swimming, but Vonn is poised to make history.
