American skier, Lindsey Vonn, started skiing at the age of two and has been racing since the age of eighth. Vonn lives in Vail, Colorado, and has skied and trained there almost her whole life. Her father, a former ski racer, was her coach from the beginning. Many things in Vonn's life seem to have set her up to be a champion, and indeed she is. Today, Lindsey Vonn is the most successful female skier in history, winning the most world championships of any skier ever, earning a total of sixty four at the age of thirty. Lindsey Vonn is such a successful skier even though she has gone through many hardships. These hardships, including several family issues and surviving many crashes, have really shaped the amazing skier and person she is today (Bio.com). Lindsey Caroline Kildow was born on October 18, 1984, in St. Paul, Minnesota. Growing up in Minnesota with her four siblings, Vonn began her journey to victory at a very young age. Vonn started racing when she was seven, and at the age of nine started to compete in international competitions. Since that time, Lindsey Vonn's life has been one of constant travel, training, and change (Bio.com).
Vonn's father, Alan Kildow, was a former competitive skier. He put Lindsey on skis when she was a toddler, hardly even walking. Later in her life he became her first coach. Her relationship with her father, Alan Kildow, is a little complicated. When he was younger, he won a junior skiing title before an injury took him out of downhill racing at the age eighteen. He pushed his daughter to excel at the sport he loved (Bio.com) When Lindsey was still a teenager and as her parents were divorcing, she met the skier Thomas Vonn. He quickly progressed from her boyfriend to her coach, and then to her husband. This relationship created tension between Vonn and her father. Lindsey did not invite her father to her wedding and didn't speak to him for six years, that is, until she divorced Thomas Vonn in 2012.