Lindsey Vonn supports Wings for Life World Run May 4

Wings for Life World Run logo,
PRNewsFoto/Wings for Life World Run

She didn't race most of the World Cup ski season. She missed the 2014 Sochi Olympics. Lindsey Vonn may have been absent from the skiing action we followed this winter as she underwent knee surgery, again, and rehab, but she's not letting a bum knee keep her from participating in the Wings for Life World Run on May 4. In March, Vonn vowed her support of the first-time event even though she won't be able to run it because of her knee.

"I'm inspired by the Wings for Life World Run and what they are trying to accomplish, which is finding a cure for spinal cord injuries," said Vonn, a Wings for Life Ambassador. "This is an opportunity for everyone to be part of a global race - and run for those who can't."

The Wings for Life World Run is a running race that was organized to raise awareness and funds for spinal cord injury research. All of the registration fees ($50 at the Denver event) go directly to the Wings for Life Foundation to fund research to find a cure for spinal cord injuries.

Fit-Pic: Welcome Home, Lindsey

It's always a good day to be skiing in Vail. But it gets even better when Vail hosts a welcome home party for its world class athlete and World Cup champion, Lindsey Vonn. Arrabelle Square in Lionshead was decked out for a celebration this afternoon that brought Vonn back to Vail and marked the U.S. Ski Team retirement of local Sarah Schleper. In the above Fit-Pic, you'll see Vonn, Schleper's son Lasse, Schleper and Picabo Street--all three women are some pretty well-known and respected ski racers.

Hosted by Picabo Street, Vonn answered questions from a group of girls from Ski Girls Rock (I hope I'm getting this name right) who were lucky enough to race her down the mountain earlier in the day. My favorite answer from Vonn: how fast she travels down the mountain on her skis. The answer: the fastest is somewhere between 92 and 95 miles per hour. Wow! I'd get a ticket if I drove that fast, and I'd probably end up wrapped in the orange mesh nets lining the race course if I tried skiing at those speeds.

Divorce for Lindsey Vonn? Reports Say Yes

I thought it was a hoax. I read a tweet from The Ski Channel and shook my head in disbelief. It sounded too false to be true, if that even makes sense. Lindsey Vonn? Single? Soon? What am I reading?

But when you click on The Ski Channel's link, you'll realize that it actually is true. That skiing's golden girl, Lindsey Vonn, is getting divorced. Wait, what? Say that again.

Lindsey Vonn and her husband of four years, Thomas Vonn, are getting divorced according to a statement provided to The Associated Press and later revealed at The Ski Channel. Thomas Vonn wrote in an email to the AP that he filed for divorce last Monday, according to the article. The couple got married at the Silver Lake Lodge at Deer Valley on September 29, 2007, and Lindsey subsequently took her husband's surname, and the world started calling her Lindsey Vonn instead of Lindsey Kildow.

Thomas is a skier himself, also competing on the U.S. Ski Team and finishing ninth in the Super-G at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Park City. Lately he's served as Lindsey's chief adviser, helping her focus on skiing while he coordinated interviews and logistics, and provided tips on the race course. That also includes accompanying her to appearances and events as I met skiing's power couple when Lindsey threw out the first pitch at Wrigley Field (wow, was that really two years ago?).

As of right now, Lindsey isn't letting her personal life stop her skiing life. Or at least not too much. She still plans to be coached by the U.S. Ski Team and race the World Cup circuit for the season. And sure, it was tape-delayed, but she was on Universal Sports' ski coverage yesterday afternoon.

I can only wonder about celebrity status and marriage meltdowns. Like A-listers in Hollywood, maybe this marriage had too much time in the limelight?

Read more about this news at ABC News and ESPN. 


Photo grabbed from Vail Resorts and credited to Jack Affleck.

Lindsey Vonn Pitches Wrigley...Again

There's always at least one reason to visit the friendly confines even if you're not much of a baseball fan. The Cubbies are my National League team of choice and I'm a baseball fan so I don't need much convincing to get me to a game when the opportunity arises. But had I been able to attend last night's game, I would have had more than the game to be excited about. Olympic gold medalist Lindsey Vonn was at Wrigley Field last night. First to throw out the first pitch, something she did for the first time last October 1 right before the Cubbies' season ended. And second to sing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" during the seventh inning stretch.

Vonn tweeted about heading down to Chicago from her grandparents house in Wisconsin. When I read that, call me a ski dork but I so wanted to be there. It wasn't going to happen, but for anyone who was at last night's game--you're lucky and I'm jealous.

Vonn was in good company too: She shared pre-game grass time with former U.S. Supreme Court Judge Sandra Day O'Connor. I'm reluctant to post pictures here as they're part of the Chicago Tribune's Cubs photo gallery, but here are the links to Vonn's pictures.

• Lindsey Vonn on the mound.
• Lindsey Vonn with Sandra Day O'Connor.
• Lindsey Vonn hugs Sandra Day O'Connor.
• Lindsey Vonn raises her arms high after her pitch.

As for her singing and pitching from last night? I'll have to look for a YouTube video to see those. I'm guessing though that like her first pitch, she didn't disappoint last night. Photo by Jack Affleck, Vail Resorts.

Medals Come Home to Vail

Even before she had Olympic gold around her neck, Lindsey Vonn landed on the cover of Sports Illustrated and among the pages of its swimsuit issue. Only a couple weeks later she captured Olympic gold and bronze in Vancouver in the downhill and super-G. By early March, she had another World Cup title, her third, and was busy making the rounds among the media and ski circuits. But now after a whirlwind winter, she's returning home to Vail, where she's spent countless hours training on the race course at Golden Peak and where she resides with her husband, Thomas, in the Arrabelle. And Vail is having a celebration for her.

You'd think I'd be excited about the rising temperatures around home and put skiing on the back burner until next season. But no, I'm still wishing I was out making turns, working on my goggle tan, taking advantage of the fresh powder that's continuing to fall in the mountains (Lake Tahoe's calling for snow tonight!) and simply breathing in that mountain air. And more importantly, I'm wishing I was in Vail to take part in Lindsey Vonn's homecoming celebration. The homecoming kicks off at 3:30 p.m., local time, at Vail Square in Lionshead, and has fun planned for everyone. Those in attendance will receive commemorative pins and memorabilia, and can listen to presentations by Co-President of Vail Resorts' Mountain Division John Garnsey, Ski & Snowboard Club Vail Executive Director Aldo Radamus, Town of Vail Mayor Dick Cleveland and former Olympian Chad Fleischer. If that wasn't enough to lure you in--come on, how could you pass up standing in the same square as an Olympian and a gold medalist at that--what about free food? Enjoy hot chocolate and cookies as well as entertainment during the event.

Those skiing and riding at Vail tomorrow also have the chance to change their 2010-2011 ski season for good. If you ride one of the "Welcome Home Lindsey" cars on the Eagle Bahn Gondola which loads from the Lionshead base, you can enter a drawing to win one of five Epic 7-Pack Passes. That's a seven-day unrestricted pass that you can use at any of the Vail Resorts and Arapahoe Basin available to purchase for $449 and you could score. Not bad, not bad. Check out more details about the event at Vail's website.

And stay tuned for more celebrations of Vail's 2010 Olympians at Spring Back to Vail on April 17. Catch four-time Olympian Sarah Schleper, Olympian Chris Del Bosco and Paralympian Ralph Green between the free concert performances by Robert Earl Keen and Wyclef Jean. Ah so much fun planned before the snow melts and even more reason to plan one last trip out there. If only that was a possibility for me--this skier's season unfortunately seems to be done, but not without a boatload of memories.

Photo grabbed from Lindsey's Facebook fan page.

All Eyes on Whistler and Women's Downhill

If you want to wait for primetime to see the women's downhill race and not hear any details before, stop reading. For anyone who's been waiting in anticipation for this race to go off after all of the alpine delays due to weather, read on.

It's easy to say that weather was on Lindsey Vonn's side. For the last week, reports have provided daily updates on the U.S. Ski Teamer's shin--how it felt, how she felt, what might happen with her Olympics, and on and on and on--after she injured it during a training run earlier this month. After the injury reveal, the weather was quick to turn at Whistler--site of the alpine skiing events--thus postponing the downhill schedule and providing Vonn with more time to heal. She rested, she wrapped her shin in cheese, and she tested out her shin in hopes of making her Olympics dreams come true after failing to make the podium four years ago in Torino. It became a waiting game, both on the shin and the weather.

After the weather called off the men's super combined yesterday, one could only wonder what would happen to the women's race the next day. But the weather cooperated and made race day a go--just check out this picture Vonn tweeted earlier today. And when the women's downhill race finally went off, you can't help but cheer for Vonn, Julia Mancuso, Stacey Cook and Alice McKennis. Mancuso skied the No. 10 position and jumped into first place--this isn't even her strongest event as she medaled in Torino in the giant slalom race. Vonn was yet to come, having drawn No. 16.

And when you read about what happened (since we have yet to see the coverage), it leaves you wondering, what shin? Vonn skied as she has all winter at the World Cup races and leapt into the gold medal position. There's a blog post here that describes her as having tears in her eyes after finishing as she did. Talk about a great day for Team USA...as it stands with the top skiers having already taken to the course, Vonn could take home the gold and Mancuso the silver. Austrian Elisabeth Gorgl stands in third to take the bronze. While the difference between gold and bronze isn't as close at the men's downhill race--just nine hundredths of a second kept Bode Miller from gold--the competition is still tight. Vonn's time is 1:44.19, Mancuso's is 1:44.75 and Gorgl's is 1:45.65.

Time's like those (and the men too) help make information like this Fit-Ink worthy, at least in my opinion. Not because of my skiing love--although that helps since I can call the shots around here--but because I feel like I'm constantly justifying skiing's benefit for runners, cyclists and triathletes off Fit-Ink. And these feats on the hill coupled with the work these skiers put in off the hill proves you need to be one heck of an athlete, even if you're not as lean and toothpick like as the cross-country skiers--a sport that has been viewed by runners as great training minus the pavement pounding. But that's another story. Back to the skiers. Just think about what it takes to withstand the blistering speeds on the hill, holding up your body and keeping those skis carving the turns (look at the slow-motion TV clips tonight and you'll see how close a skier's ankles get to the snow to make those turns). Talk about strength and balance. It really brings home the stability ball exercises Mancuso practices regularly--she can balance atop the ball with her feet planted and her body in a skier's tuck position--and the late-night workout Vonn said she needed to do after throwing out the first pitch at Wrigley Field. And it makes me exhausted!

Congrats, ladies! Can't wait to check out the race tonight! Photo of Julia Mancuso grabbed from juliamancuso.com. Posted by Kate

Who Should Be on the Cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition?

Maybe I'm missing something, but with the timing of the Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition being just days before the Winter Olympics start in Vancouver, it almost seems more fitting for an Olympian to be on the cover over Brooklyn Decker. I totally understand that the Swimsuit edition audience varies from the Olympic crowd, but still it'd be cool to see one of the beauties that landed inside the magazine--Lindsey Vonn, Hannah Teter, Clair Bidez and Lacey Schnoor--on the outside.

True, Vonn landed the February 8 cover of Sports Illustrated--a salute to the best female downhill skier--but isn't the swimsuit edition a diverse enough crowd where she could be featured again (a little like the week in 1975 where Time and Newsweek ran Bruce Springsteen on their covers)? Or what about another Olympian like snowboarder Gretchen Bleiler who circuited magazines--covers, features and ads--following her silver-medal win in 2006? I'm just saying...

Where do you weigh in? Would you rather see any Olympian on the cover? Please share in the comments. Photos grabbed from thebiglead.com and newsroom.mtv.com. Posted by Kate

Fit-Pic: Lindsey Vonn Pitches Wrigley

Lindsey Vonn may be an incredible skier, but she's not always practicing on the downhill. Before the ski season gets into full swing, Vonn did a victory cheer, but on the mound and not at the end of a speedy run. Vonn threw out the ceremonious first pitch at Wrigley Field on October 1 when the Cubs hosted the Pittsburgh Pirates. That's her above just after the pitch, and a successful one at that. Maybe Vonn can sub as a relief pitcher when she's not schussing?

See a few more pictures from the night here.

Photo by Jack Affleck, Vail Resorts, Colo. Posted by Kate