On August 27, 2022, Lindsey Vonn reached out and took the hand of her mother, Linda Krohn. It was exactly one year ago that the 70-year-old was diagnosed with ALS. It would be the last day they spent together.
“She passed away peacefully,” Vonn said at the time. “She was a shining light that will never fade and I will forever be inspired by her.”
Linda suffered the day Lindsey was born. She suffered a stroke during childbirth. It is fatal 75 percent of the time and she was left with mild paralysis in her left leg.
Linda had no memory of the first seven weeks of Lindsey’s life; the stroke also kept her from climbing the mountain to watch her daughter become a skiing prodigy.
But Linda never complained. Instead, she helped where she could, driving 16 hours from their home in Minnesota to the slopes of Vail, Colorado. Lindsey sat in the back, under a sleeping back, while Linda sang along with Eric Clapton.
Her influence continues. That much became clear on Thursday, when the 40-year-old announced she was returning to the slopes – five years after hanging up her boots and 22 years since she first joined the national team.
American ski legend Lindsey Vonn makes a stunning return – five years after her retirement
The Olympic champion, who previously had a relationship with Tiger Woods, is eyeing a fifth Winter Games
“I always feel like I have a responsibility to myself and to her to reach my maximum potential every day and never regret it,” Vonn told the New York Times after confirming her comeback. “I now feel like I would regret it if I didn’t try.”
So now she’s plotting a return to the World Cup circuit – as soon as next month. She also has one eye on the 2026 Winter Olympics. It would be her fifth Games. She is already one of the most decorated skiers of all time, having won three Olympic medals and every other major title. Among the other prizes she’s collected along the way? She named a cow and a goat Laura.
These achievements placed her alongside the biggest names in the sport. Vonn grew close to Roger Federer, who retired in 2022 after — as he told her — “squeezed every drop out of the lemon.”
Vonn believes there is still some “juice” left in hers and she is inspired by LeBron James, who turns 40 next months but remains a force in the NBA.
Vonn is already a legend in her own sport. She has been compared to Michael Phelps and in reality, she has been surrounded by greatness her entire life.
Her father, Alan, was a national junior ski champion. Her ex-husband – Thomas Vonn – is a fellow Olympian and since then Vonn has also dated NFL coach Kenan Smith, NHL defenseman PK Subban and… Tiger Woods.
They split in 2015 after almost three years together; as DailyMail.com revealed, Woods cheated on the Olympic gold medalist. Two years later, Vonn took on Donald Trump ahead of the 2018 Winter Olympics.
Vonn was inspired to return by the memory of her mother, Linda, who tragically passed away in 2022
The three-time Olympic medalist is teasing a possible return to the Games in Italy in 2026
The skier said she hoped to represent the American people – rather than the president – and would not accept any invitation to the White House. She has rarely limited herself to the slopes. Vonn has posed for the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue, participated in a rap battle and hosted the dog reality TV show The Pack.
Her skiing career, meanwhile, has taken Vonn to heights that few have reached, but has also come with some bruises.
“She’d rather be dead than not succeed,” one former coach claimed. Vonn flirted with danger every time she left the gate, and it came at a price.
Seven months ago, the 40-year-old underwent knee replacement surgery. She had reached “the end of the road” after multiple surgeries and several bruises.
Vonn had not been able to straighten her right leg for almost ten years. The problems spread to her hip, back and neck.
Vonn limped away from the sport in February 2019. She had no intention of returning. But ten weeks after surgeons reopened her, Vonn was back on the slopes. As it turned out, the surgery allowed her to turn back the clock. Vonn was able to ski without pain again. Now she is chasing a new golden dream.
The American was only 17 when she made her Olympic bow in Salt Lake City in 2022. She went to three more Games and has not ruled out a trip to number 5 in 2026. ‘The Olympic Games are what I have wanted for myself all my life. life,” Vonn said in 2010.
Minnesota isn’t known for its slopes, but she started “carving the local hill at the age of three.” She raced when she was seven. At the age of nine, Vonn competed in international events. It didn’t take long for her to outgrow Minnesota, so the whole family moved to Colorado.
The American has won three Olympic medals and captured every other major title
Among the other prizes she collected were a cow (pictured) and a goat she named Laura
Vonn continued to reach new heights and twenty years ago she achieved her first World Cup podium – in Cortina d’Ampezzo, the site of the 2026 Olympic Games.
She went on to rack up 82 World Cup victories – the second most of any female skier. Vonn still holds several other records, including most wins by anyone – male or female – in a single discipline. No one has more than her 43 downhill wins and 28 super-G wins.
In 2010, she became the first American woman to win Olympic downhill gold in Vancouver. Four years earlier, two days before her race in Turin, the American was hospitalized after a brutal 100 km/h crash that sent her flying 3 meters into the air.
Despite initial fears that she had broken her back and pelvis, Vonn dragged her bruised body out of the hospital and limped to the starting line. Remarkably, she finished eighth.
She had no such luck at the 2013 World Championships, when Vonn was flown off the mountain after suffering a torn MCL and ACL. Three years later she broke her arm.
In 2019, she couldn’t take it anymore. “My body is broken beyond repair,” she said. “My body is screaming at me to stop and it’s time for me to listen.” Vonn is now pain-free, so she’s listening again at the age of forty.