Local Look
Lindsey (Kildow) Vonn was born in St. Paul, Minn., but began making the 18-hour drive to Vail with her mother at a young age to train and race in the Rocky Mountains. She was first drawn to Vail because it was the site of the Junior Olympics. Her family, which includes younger triplets (two brothers and a sister) and another younger sister, moved to Vail in the late ‘90s and Vonn began training at the Ski & Snowboard Club Vail. As a child, she looked up to racer Picabo Street and excelled on the youth racing circuit in the U.S. and abroad.
Now coached by her husband, former Olympian Thomas Vonn, Lindsay has become one of the most accomplished American ski racers in history. The two-time Olympian won back-to-back World Cup overall titles, becoming the only American woman ever to accomplish the feat. Vonn has had to overcome media pressure and injuries in her quest for a medal in Vancouver, where she plans to compete in five events and hopes to win her first Olympic medal. She crashed during a downhill training run in Torino in 2006 and sliced a tendon in her right thumb on a champagne bottle in February 2009 while celebrating a downhill win. Vonn had surgery on the thumb and still managed to finish the season on a positive note, landing on the podium three times the following weekend. Vonn has more World Cup wins (19) than any other American woman in history.
