Sports Illustrated - USA (2022-02)

LINDSEY VONN WRITES

OF COPING WITH

DEPRESSION AND

GUILT DURING HER

STELLAR CAREER

RISING

ABOVE

16 SPORTS ILLUSTRATED | SI.COM

READ

IN HER NEW MEMOIR three-time

Olympic medalist Lindsey Vonn

writes, “Following [my] divorce,

my family was disappointed that I

didn’t want to change my name back to Kildow,

but by that point, Lindsey Vonn was who I was.

I had built up this alter ego, like my version of a

company name.”

The idea of dual Lindseys is a recurring

theme in Rise. At 12, she was a bemulleted

introvert who broke up with a kid on

Valentine’s Day because he was moving too fast

when he called her “babe.” At the same time

she was fiercely confident and successful on the

slopes. As she got older, she continued to be a

self-described “pushover” whenever she wasn’t

able to “[play] the Lindsey Vonn character”

in her personal life while amassing one of the

greatest résumés of any skier in history.

How Vonn achieved her skiing success is

interesting enough, but her story is far more

compelling when she’s not on the mountain.

Now 37, Vonn has wrestled with a fair amount

of guilt: Her mother nearly died giving birth

to her, and she believes her parents divorced

because they had to uproot the family, from

suburban Minneapolis to Vail, so she could

train. Vonn has also dealt with depression, and

her marriage, to her first serious boyfriend,

ended when she was 27. (She does not mention

her relationships with Tiger Woods and NHL

star P.K. Subban.) “[S]kiing hid most of my

issues, because it was a way to channel my

emotions,” she writes. “I think that’s why some

of the best seasons of my career happened

when everything around me was falling apart.

But eventually, I needed to figure my s--- out.”

That journey toward self-discovery drives

Rise. It’s a work in progress—she points out her

depression worsened in retirement because she

couldn’t “compartmentalize [her] feelings and

just focus on training”—but also a reminder that

not only is Lindsey Vonn an amazing skier, she’s

a fascinating character as well. —Mark Bechtel

SCORECARD

TH

OM

AS

(^) LO
VE
LO
CK
GAMEPLAN:
THE SMART FAN’S GUIDE TO RIGHT NOW
QUEEN OF
THE HILL
Vonn retired
with 82
World Cup
wins, second
all-time to
Ingemar
Stenmark.