Lindsey Vonn

Lindsey Kildow married fellow skier Thomas Vonn on September 29, 2007, and the marriage was finalized in divorce on January 9, 2013. She retained the surname Vonn, under which she became internationally known.

She later had relationships with golfer Tiger Woods and National Football League assistant coach Kenan Smith. She was engaged to hockey player P. K. Subban from 2019 until their separation in December 2020, and she dated Lobos 1707 co-founder Diego Osorio from 2021 until their split in February 2025. Vonn's mother, Linda Krohn, died in 2022 after a battle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

Vonn began skiing in Minnesota at age two or three, guided by her father, Alan Kildow, and her grandfather, Don Kildow, both of whom were competitive skiers. She trained with coach Erich Sailer at Buck Hill before moving with her family to Vail, Colorado, at age 12. At age nine, she met Olympic champion Picabo Street, who later became her mentor and role model.

In 1999, Vonn became the first American female winner of the slalom at Italy's Trofeo Topolino. She made her World Cup debut at age 16 in 2000 and competed at her first Olympics at age 17 during the 2002 Salt Lake City Games. Her first World Cup podium came in downhill at Cortina d'Ampezzo in January 2004, followed by her first World Cup victory at Lake Louise in December of that year.

Vonn won her first overall World Cup championship in 2008 and followed it with titles in 2009, 2010, and 2012. She also collected multiple discipline championships, including eight in downhill, five in Super-G, and three consecutive combined titles from 2010 through 2012. In 2012, she became the sixth woman to win a World Cup race in all five alpine disciplines.

At the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Vonn became the first American woman to win Olympic gold in the downhill. She also won bronze in the Super-G. At the 2009 World Championships in Val-d'Isère, France, she won gold in both downhill and Super-G, becoming the first American woman to win the world Super-G title. She received the Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year award in 2011.

Injuries repeatedly interrupted Vonn's career. A crash at the 2013 World Championships caused tears to the anterior cruciate ligament and medial collateral ligament in her right knee, along with a tibial plateau fracture. Further knee problems prevented her from competing at the 2014 Winter Olympics. She also suffered a fractured arm in 2016 and additional knee injuries before the 2018 and 2019 seasons.

Vonn won a bronze medal in the downhill at the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics. She retired after the 2019 World Championships, where she won another downhill bronze and became the first female skier to win medals at six different World Championships. Her 82 World Cup victories at retirement were the women's record until Mikaela Shiffrin surpassed it in 2023.

After knee replacement surgery, Vonn announced a return to competitive skiing in November 2024. She reached the World Cup podium in Super-G at Sun Valley in March 2025 and later became the oldest downhill World Cup winner, winning at St. Moritz in December 2025. She qualified for the 2026 Winter Olympics, where she crashed during the women's downhill after competing with a ruptured ACL and sustained a serious fracture to her left leg that required surgery.

Vonn has won 84 World Cup races, including 45 downhill victories and 28 in Super-G. She is one of six women to have won World Cup races in all five alpine disciplines. Her 20 World Cup crystal globes, earned across overall and discipline championships, were a record for a skier of either sex when she reached that mark in 2016.

In 2015, Vonn founded the Lindsey Vonn Foundation, which provides enrichment programs, sports-based scholarships, and confidence-building camps for girls from underserved communities. She also founded Après Productions and became an investor in the women's soccer team Utah Royals. Her books include Strong Is the New Beautiful, written with Sarah Toland, and the 2022 memoir Rise: My Story.

HBO's documentary Lindsey Vonn: The Final Season followed her final competitive season and was nominated for two Sports Emmy Awards. In 2023, she became the first woman to ski the Streif course in Kitzbühel outside competition.