Lindsey Vonn’s motto has always been ‘hard work will eventually pay off’ and those words ring true for the American virtually every time she enters a race. It was back in 2008 when Vonn took the World Cup by storm winning the Downhill as well as the Overall event, finally realising her childhood dream of being crowned the World’s best skier. She went on to repeat, putting this same dream on rerun in 2009 and 2010, winning the SG, DH and overall titles and also the downhill and super G gold medals in the 2009 world alpine championships, downhill gold and SG bronze in the 2010 Olympic Games and after Maria Riesch finished the 2011 with three points on her for the overall title in 2011, is making sure she's untouchable in 2012.

Born in 1984, Vonn, who changed her name from Kildow after her marriage, spent her early years in the city of St. Paul, Minnesota, a state not especially known for mountains but soon moved to Vail, Colorado, to further her career as a promising youngster. At the age of 14 she became the only American female to win Italy’s Trofeo Topolino contest and that paved the way for what was to become a successful career as a professional.

In 2001 she competed in her first World Cup event, a slalom at Park City and the following year she recorded her first World Cup points by finishing 26th in the SuperG at Val d’Isere. It didn’t take long for the good natured and charismatic Lindsey to show her true potential.

She won a place in the US Ski Team for the 2002 Olympic Games and caught the attention of everybody when she finished 6th behind such legends as Kostelic, Goetschl, Ertl and Dorfmeister. That was to be the springboard for future successes.Vonn conquered her first podium in the plush Italian resort of Cortina in 2004 and the following season she won her first ever World Cup race in what has since become one of her favoured slopes, the Men’s Olympic Downhill in Lake Louise, where she now has accumulated a total of 8 podium appearances since that day.

The 2006 Olympic games in Turin came when Lindsey was just beginning to mature as an athlete but a nasty crash in the downhill training saw her hospitalised overnight. She did return the following day to compete but finished eighth and she left the Italian alps with no medals.

The 2007 season started in the most promising of ways for the then 22 year old. A win and two second place finishes at Lake Louise in early December were soon followed by a win and another second place in Val d’Isere but unfortunately she couldn’t maintain that momentum and an error strewn second half of the season which ended with an injury, saw her finish a disappointing 3rd in the Downhill standings behind rivals Renate Goetschl and fellow American Julia Mancuso.

Her win in Val d’Isere that year did bring an unexpected surprise though. The traditional award for the winner of the race in France is a cow and Lindsey still keeps the pet, named Olympe, at her winter home of Kirchberg in Austria.

Her second career World Championships, after Santa Caterina in 2005, were also seen as a slight disappointment as she was expected to take gold in both the Downhill and the SuperG but instead could do no better than second in both. She then had to retire from the Slalom, and from the rest of the season, after injuring her knee.

In the 2008 season Vonn exceeded all expectation and she bounced back from the disappointment of the previous winter to outclass everybody in her favoured Downhill event. Five victories and a further two podiums over the course of the winter were more than enough to see her take home the coveted globe with an huge margin over Renate Goetschl. Her improved form in the slalom and GS also saw her dominate the overall event, taking over as queen of the slopes from previous winner Nicole Hosp. The victory, coupled with Bode Miller’s overall triumph in the men’s draw, saw two Americans crowned overall champions for the first time since the 1983 season.

The 2008/09 season saw Lindsey surpass even her own expectations though. The new queen of the snow started breaking domestic records by the handful as she first surpassed Tamara McKinney's US record of 18 female victories with her win in Tarvisio's superG. She followed that up with another Overall title at the end of the season which made her the first American ever to win back-to-back overall titles. Her dominance in the Overall was overpowering and she even took a third crystal globe by winning the superG title on the very last race of the season. Four victories in a row in World Cup were enough for her to overtake Fabienne Suter in the finals in Are.

In February of that same season she also made up for her previous disappointments in the World Championships. She took the event in Val d'Isère by storm with two gold medals in the downhill and superG and only a curious case of over enthusiasm stopped her from winning more medals. Whilst celebrating her second gold the American sliced her thumb on a broken champagne bottle and was promptly escorted to hospital. She decided to skip the GS but was back for the slalom with her hand protected by a mould and tape. She did not finish the second run.

Off the slopes Lindsey is an easy person to get on and is well liked by her fellow competitors as well as the media and organisers alike. She has developed a strong friendship with the German athlete, and fellow rival Maria Riesch, who pushed her hard in the overall competition to finish third.The two spend the Christmas period together at Riesch’s home and support each other throughout the long winter months.

In the summer of 2007 the then Lindsey Kildow married her long-time boyfriend and former ski racer Thomas Vonn adopting his surname as hers.