Lindsey Vonn - The New Chapter
Lindsey Vonn is the most decorated American ski racers in history and an entrepreneur, bestselling author, and philanthropist. Vonn finally called time on a glittering career in 2019 after 18 years on the World Cup circuit, three Winter Olympic medals, eight world championship medals and a record 82 race wins - just four wins short of Ingemar Stenmark’s all-time record.
Elevated: During the year that you took after retirement to get to a place where you had your feet on the ground and were in a happy, stable place, what were the most pivotal, strongest, elements or components of that year that in retrospect allowed you to get to such?
Lindsey Vonn: What enabled me to get to such a great place was time alone. I have never really had time to myself and through COVID and personal transitions I was able to be in my home in Utah with my dogs and reflect. I also did a lot of therapy and was able to finally process retirement which was not as easy as I had imagined it would be. All of the time working on myself has paid off in so many ways and I couldn’t be happier.
Part of your post-retirement life is now dedicated to business, including a collaboration with HEAD Sportswear on a clothing line. What inspired the HEAD collaboration and what excites you most about it?
I’m very proud of what I have designed with HEAD because as a skier, I have often felt that there were not many options for women that were practical, efficient, and stylish at the same time. I believe that we accomplished that with the Legacy Collection. You’ll find bold colors and patterns in flattering styles. Everything is high-performance and very fashion forward.
Recently you made a quick pit stop at Perch in Vail prior to your appearance at the Denver Broncos game. With so many incredible business projects and collaborations such as HEAD in the works, what does a typical day in the jetset life of Lindsey Vonn look like?
Every day is different, but every day is busy! I am in constant communication with my partners at Rolex, Under Armour, Land Rover, and Red Bull about how I can support their projects and campaigns. I’ve been diving into being a businesswoman and have acted as an advisor and investor for several companies including Beyond Meat, Hyperice, Oura, Lobos 1707 and JUST Egg. Lately I have been particularly busy preparing for the release of my memoir ‘Rise’ in January. I’ve also been planning ways I can be involved with the 2021/2022 ski season and the Beijing Winter Olympics, for example I recently did the voice over for the IOC Stronger Together Campaign for the Olympics, and visited team USA during their training, which was a lot of fun.
Your foundation, The Lindsey Vonn Foundation, focuses on helping kids achieve their goals through encouraging individual growth and confidence, in whatever their passion may be. How has your foundation impacted you and your outlook on the future of sports?
Working with kids with dreams as big as mine just reminds me that the future is bright! Whether it’s in athletics or academics, there is greatness to be achieved, boundaries to be pushed, and records to be set. I truly believe that success is meaningless unless you can pass it down and that is the premise behind my foundation. After retiring and spending some time working on the future of LVF, I realized that these kids also inspired me to go after my new goals and ambitions.
Après Productions is such an incredible testament to your creative ingenuity. What have been some of your favorite productions thus far?
Every project that my producing partner, Claire Brown, and I do is a passion project. I have enjoyed working on all of them but what I cherish the most so far was working on the Picabo Street documentary for the Olympic Channel. Not only did we work and interview my idol Picabo, but we also worked with the legendary Frank Marshall to create this magical project that will be coming out around the Olympics.
With your new memoir “Rise” debuting early next year, what message do you hope to convey to your readers?
I want my readers to know that they have the strength within themselves to go after their dreams and succeed. Finding happiness and confidence comes from focusing on yourself, your passions, and what drives you. Additionally, throughout my skiing career and now in my memoir, I have made it a priority to be vocal about my own struggles with my mental health. I do this in hopes of helping others with similar issues and letting them know they’re not alone and there’s no shame in seeking help.
Throughout an incredibly successful and intense career, what kept you going when things got tough?
I have always had such a deep love for skiing, so I never saw competing as a job. In those years I viewed myself as my biggest competition and doing so allowed me to improve in the areas I needed to focus on most. Through every obstacle I faced, I knew I had to persevere and work hard to get back to what I loved most.