Lindsey Vonn continues to make skiing history and, at the age of 41, is clearly the oldest World Cup winner of all time. The American's father also gets emotional.
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- At the age of 41, Lindsey Vonn wins the first speed race of the 2024/25 World Cup winter in St. Moritz, making her the oldest female World Cup winner in history.
- The victory is emotionally significant for Vonn, partly because of a tearful phone call with her father: "He cried so hard, I've never heard that before in my life."
- Despite earlier tensions, Vonn now acknowledges her father's influence on her career and is ready for more races: "I'm ready for the season. Also for the Olympic Games."
Lindsey Vonn is the big figure in the first speed race of the 2024/25 World Cup winter. With a lead of 0.98 seconds, she beats the surprising Austrian Magdalena Egger into second place. Mirjam Puchner, who completes the podium, loses 1.16 seconds.
In the interview after the race, Vonn says that she is generally very happy and proud - also of her team, who worked hard so that she could stand on the podium today: "It wasn't easy, but now everything fits and I'm ready for the season. Also for the Olympic Games. Today was a very emotional day for me."
Just how emotional the day was for Vonn and her family is also shown by what the victory did to her father Alan Kildow. Vonn, who spoke to him on the phone after the race, said: "He cried so hard, I've never heard that in my life. It was very emotional for me."
The difficult relationship with her own father
Lindsey Vonn's relationship with her father Alan Kildow was complicated for a long time. He recognized her talent early on and supported her with great dedication. When Lindsey was eleven years old, the family moved from Burnsville in the US state of Minnesota to Vail, Colorado - a move that significantly benefited her sporting development. Vonn won numerous youth races and was considered an exceptional talent early on.
However, the intensive support also had its downside. The strong focus on her career led to tensions within the family. Her parents divorced and the relationship between Lindsey and her father increasingly deteriorated. In later interviews, Vonn said that her father was very performance-oriented and that she felt under pressure as a result. At times, contact broke off completely.
It was only years later, during the separation from her then husband Thomas Vonn in 2011, that there was a cautious rapprochement. During this difficult phase, Lindsey made contact with her father again and the relationship gradually relaxed. Today, Vonn talks about this time in a differentiated way: the early support made her career possible - but was not always easy for her personally.
Now the relationship is apparently so good again that Vonn spoke to her father on the phone immediately after her victory. It is quite possible that it was not the last phone call with tears of joy this weekend. After all, there is another downhill race in St. Moritz on Saturday and a super-G on Sunday. Vonn herself said after the race that she hadn't expected to be so fast, but also issued a warning to the competition: "I think I could be a bit faster on the flat section tomorrow."
