US Olympic legend Lindsey Vonn entered the discipline of alpine skiing as a young girl who loved to ski. Today, however, she has become a holy grail in the sport whom everyone admires and wants to surpass someday. But, she didn’t enjoy this stellar support in her earlier days when she was still grasping how to ski.
In a recent podcast episode Linsey Vonn spoke about the beginning of her skiing journey and her father’s take on it. In fact, she also revealed that despite working hard in the field, her father believed another skier was more talented than her.
Who is Lindsey Vonn’s father’s favorite skier?
3x NBA Champion Dwyane Wade invited Lindsey Vonn for his podcast, “The Why with Dwyane Wade.” One of the topics the NBA Hall of Famer introduced saw the duo talking about Vonn’s sister Karin Kildow. Wade asked at what point Vonn got into skiing full time and Karin fell out, since the whole Vonn family was into skiing.
Answering this, Lindsey Vonn said, “Me and Kara are definitely on like another level competitively, you know. And so for some reason, when we moved to Colorado, she made some friends and decided that she didn’t want to race anymore.” Vonn further added, “She went back to Minnesota, hadn’t skied in like four years, and then was state champ.”
This showcases that Kildow had a huge reservoir of talent for skiing, but she chose to not pursue it. Which, according to Lindsey Vonn, is one of her regrets. Despite this, the 39-year-old also shared, “My dad likes to say that she was more talented than I was.”
While this particular remark wasn’t very pleasing for Lindsey Vonn, she noted, “I think he likes to just jab me a little bit. Like you work harder, but she’s more talented. Yeah. Yeah. But, you know, I’m here.” Despite this, her father made sure that the young Lindsey got everything she needed to outclass everyone. In fact, he also arranged for one of the greatest skiing coaches for her when she was 17.
The coach who introduced Vonn to true hard work
Speaking at the podcast, Lindsey Vonn also said that she had hit a ceiling when she was 17. When she realized she couldn’t get any better, she spoke to her father who immediately hired one of the greatest coaches for her in Monaco.
But, this wasn’t a fancy retreat, but something that would actually drill the necessary things in her to become the greatest. Lindsey Vonn revealed that her coach used to run behind her and make her crush and rebuild herself almost every day. She noted that his training methods were very grueling and devoid of breaks.
She wasn’t even allowed to have water before completing her drills. But, this led Vonn to discover her true limits, and how easily she could push them, which shattered her phase of stagnation. Moreover, she learned what true hard work really meant and developed into a gritty and resilient athlete.
