While former alpine skier Lindsey Vonn has posed for the SI Swimsuit Issue three different times, her debut was back in 2010, when she traveled traveled to Whistler, Canada, for a snowy photoshoot with Warwick Saint.
The athlete, who is a four-time World Cup champion and a three-time Olympic medalist, looked right at home on the slopes in several red-and-white bikinis. Vonn also had the opportunity to pose for Saint’s lens with her skis, bringing the opportunity full-circle. She returned to the fold six years later for a bodypaint feature that took her to Petit St. Vincent, and most recently in 2019, when she modeled for Walter Chin in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.
Though we never would have guessed it, Vonn revealed to us earlier this year that she wasn’t entirely sure of herself in front of the camera at first, though she’s grown more so as her number of features with the magazine has increased.
“I was actually pretty nervous for my first SI Swimsuit Issue,” she told us this spring. “I wasn’t entirely confident with how I looked at the time. I think being featured in the magazine made me look at myself in a different, more positive light.”
Vonn says stepping in front of an SI Swimsuit photographer’s lens also helped her to be more appreciative of her athletic figure.
“In some ways, it boosted my confidence and made me feel that having a strong and athletic body was not just O.K. but something to be proud of and celebrated,” she stated. “Each issue I was in, I was more and more confident, and it’s amazing to see that transformation in the pictures and in myself.”
Below are a few of our favorite snapshots from her first brand feature, in which her self-assured nature shines through.
