Despite being totally unrelated to triathlon, it seems that this forum digs Lindsey Vonn. Anyway, she just set the all time World Cup points record for women, and she has a very good chance of breaking Hermann Maier’s all time record tomorrow.
She’s epic.
I would still like to see her do a 52 second 400m before granting true epicness:
I grew up ski racing (I sucked but didn’t quit til I was 20) and I totally love ski racing (especially downhill) because it requires so much of what endurance sports require less of: Namely supreme agility and dexterity, brute strength and, especially, balls of iron. (serious bike racing excepted, THAT requires agility & cajones too). The best of the best will always leave me in awe. And LV is just that. (I love Picabo too. Interviewed her once about 15 years ago for the little paper I worked at. Very cool woman).
She’s very a special, once in several generations type of athlete. She is absolutely dominating the downhill & Super-G rankings and also in the points in Slalom and GS.
In tri terms it’d be like dominating long distance racing and still threatening the podium at ITU races. And she’s easy on the eyes.
To add to your point and elaborating a bit on Kdw, the downhill folks need the endurance of an 800m runner too 
.
Word.
I love her. She is a bad*ss. She is versatile. She is pretty glued together.
This is something to acknowledge.
Go Girl Go.
The Hermanator was awesome… I was watching the race where he crashed in 98 and he walked away… still got a gold at Nagano
Maier soon dominated alpine ski racing, winning the gold medal in the giant slalom and Super-G at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, only a few days after a dramatic crash in the downhill race where he flew spectacularly off the sunlit course, landed partially on his head, tumbled head over heels several times, and crashed through two layers of B-netting. Despite the horrible look of the crash, Maier was able to walk out under his own power. That put him on the cover of Sports Illustrated and made him a well known sportsman around the globe
Thread needs some improvement.
My wife and I were watching the broadcast when The Hermanator flew off course and landed on his shoulder/head. I will never forget the excitement when he came back to win gold later in the week.
I personally consider that to be one of the most dramatic sporting achievements I’ve ever witnessed, and certainly fit right along with the legend he had already become up to that point in his career and life.
What a great Olympic memory.
“To add to your point and elaborating a bit on Kdw, the downhill folks need the endurance of an 800m runner too :-)”
I posted something like that a few years ago here or elsewhere and was laughed at. ANYONE (solid alpine skier, or snow boarder) who has skied faster than 30 mph / descended 1,000 feet nonstop in 1-2 minutes knows it is exhausting, no matter how good a shape you are in. These men and women go 60 to 90 mph and descend as much as 3,000 vertical feet in 2 minutes. All the while making turns that pretty much require the ability to squat 500 pounds and negotiating bumps that launch them 20 feet up in the air for 50 yards or more. We can’t imagine it.
Most amazingly she grew up skiing on a little man-made hill in the midwest.
And, even though she’s a downhiller, she is a threat in the slalom and GS.
Of course, people forget that Jean Claude Killy totally dominated alpine skiing in the mid to late 60s. It was a regular thing for him to win the Slalom, GS and Downhill in the same weekend. (There was no such thing as Super G back then.) He was the favorite at every single race where he toed the line in the 66-68 years. He completely revolutionized ski racing technique. Stiff topped boots with high tabs on the calf were invented for him, as were the hooky skis (in particular the Dynamic VR17s). The great French slalomist/GS racer Patrick Russell and downhiller Duvillard were the beneficiaries of his pioneering.
If SuperG existed then, he would have put up point totals that no one could touch. It was Killy at the top and everyone else a distant second.
Most amazingly she grew up skiing on a little man-made hill in the midwest.
And, even though she’s a downhiller, she is a threat in the slalom and GS.
It’s not a little man-made hill, it is little Buck Hill in Minnesota. The snow is icy and you do laps bashing gates all night long on school days while freezing your ass off all winter long. This probably helped her a lot. You learn to ski fast when you ski icy conditions.
I stand corrected.
I have read that her off-season training includes daily 2 hour bike rides in the San Diego area, working on her critical velocity no doubt.
semi-related, but:
my wife’s been looking for that UA bikini. does it actually exist for retail, or is it just a one-off? (pun hopefully inserted)
-mike
At his peak, the Herminator was incredible. For me his back to back WC titles in 2000, 2001 were just incredible. In 2000 he won 4 crystal globes for Overall, Downhill, Super-G, and GS. Then in 2001 he defended all 4 globes. Just incredible. Then nearly lost his leg in a motorcycle accident and came back to win the overall again!!! His book ‘The race of my life’ is a very very good read.
. . . .AND he once met Lance whilst riding the prologue of the TdF.
There’s a movie about her available on demand:
http://www.oakley.com/sports/performancesport/posts/2827
A lot of interesting background info. Seems her family sacrificed an awful lot so that she could develop as a skiier, to the point where there is a curious absence of them in the movie. Lots of credit given to her now-ex husband/coach Thomas who she “couldn’t live without” (apparently, she can). She is certainly portrayed as someone with a laser-like focus on being the best skier in the world at all costs.
Pretty sure her dad didn’t like her husband.
My favorite Lindey Vonn moment was a few years ago, when she cut a tendon on her hand in an accident and was advised to end her season early.
Her response? “Oh, no… I am not going to quit because I cut my finger!” and proceeded to ski (and win) for the rest of the season with her pole duct taped to the cast on her hand.
She rocks.