Lindsey Kildow-Vonn

Born Lindsey Kildow, the name by which she competed at the 2002 and 2006 Winter Olympics, she became universally known as Lindsey Vonn and the greatest female downhill and speed skier of all-time. Vonn competed at four Winter Olympics, missing the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics because of a knee ligament injury. She won three Olympic medals with a gold in the 2010 downhill, and bronzes in the 2018 downhill and 2010 Super-G.

Vonn was dominant on the World Cup circuit, and finished her career with 82 World Cup victories, the most ever by a woman (later surpassed by Mikaela Shiffrin), and second at the time only to Sweden’s Ingemar Stenmark. She was one of only six women (at the time) to win World Cup races in all five disciplines – downhill, Super-G, giant slalom, slalom, and combined.

Overall, Vonn had 137 World Cup podiums. She won eight World Cup season titles in the downhill (2008-13, 2015-16), five titles in the Super-G (2009-12, 2015), and three consecutive titles in the combined from 2010-12. Vonn was a four-time winner of the overall World Cup title, in 2008-10 and 2012. Her 20 World Cup crystal globes surpassed Stenmark, who had won 19 season titles.

Vonn won eight medals at the World Championships, with gold medals in downhill and Super-G in 2009. She added silvers in both events in 2007 and another silver in the 2011 downhill. She won lone bronze medals at the 2013, 2015, and 2017 Worlds, in Super-G in 2013 and downhill in 2015 and 2017.

Vonn achieved all this despite multiple knee injuries during her career that required several reconstructive surgeries. Notably, this likely caused her Olympic record to be less than her dominance in other events as she was often recovering from surgery or missing the 2014 Games.

Vonn was married to US ski team member Thomas Vonn, although they later divorced. She later had well-publicized celebrity relationships with Tiger Woods and hockey player P. K. Subban. She and Subban were engaged but never married, and later broke up.