Lindsey tells all about her long, hard road back to racing in Lake Louise this coming Friday.
It’s been 11 long months since American ski superstar Lindsey Vonn was standing in the start gate. Now she’ll be back – competing in her first race this coming Friday, December 5, in the Lake Louise downhill competition in Canada.
We recently caught up with Lindsey to get her story first hand.
It’s been an arduous journey for Vonn after endless rehab and recovery from two devastating knee injuries. She last raced in a world cup in France, on December 21, 2013, when her knee buckled landing off of a jump.
Prior to that, Vonn had had two ACL injuries in 2013: the first one sustained in a horrific competition crash at the World Ski Championships in Austria in February and the other following a crash during high-speed training in the USA in November which required a second complicated operation in January.
She is grateful for the support she has received from all sides, day in, day out: “Next to my fans, my friends and family have definitely been my biggest support. They helped me when I was down and made me laugh,” said Vonn.
Fighting for her comeback, one of her biggest role models was her boyfriend, Tiger Woods. “Tiger is pretty tough. He’s an incredibly hard worker. He has been through a lot of injuries in his career, and he has always fought back. He’s a huge inspiration for me.”
After being in pain for the first two months, Lindsey’s left no stone unturned to return to the slopes. “The hardest part of the rehab process was the initial months when I was very limited with what I could do,” she remembers. “After that, together with my therapists, we’ve worked on everything, from balance to strength to plyometrics.”
“My leg had nothing left – just skin, no muscle”
“I had to build everything back up from nothing. That took a lot of time and a lot of work – there is pretty much nothing I didn’t do,” she says. “But I love working hard, I love being in the gym. I love pushing myself.”
What really sets Lindsey apart from the others is her unwavering trust in her skills and her deep love for skiing.
She also – quite astonishingly – did not require any help from a mental coach to overcome the memory of the crashes.
“I have never been scared or nervous to come back. Just excited”
“I didn’t need anyone’s help; I just believe in myself and in the work that I have done. That’s enough for me.”
The hard times are now over. Back on snow since early October, Vonn’s training has progressed steadily. Yet she remains committed to a strategically measured approach to her comeback and opted not to participate in the FIS races at Copper Mountain where most of the international elite took stock of their form.
But with Lindsey’s dedication, the results will come. She’s happy to be back skiing, and back to racing: “My injury has only made me appreciate my sport and what I do more. I am not nervous to be back skiing. I am just happy and I love what I do. I appreciate every single minute that I have on the slopes,” she smiles.
For Lindsey, Lake Louise is a special place – she has already won there a whooping 14 times – 14 good reasons why she chooses this event for her comeback and why the place has been dubbed “Lake Lindsey”…
Watch a first little video from Lindsey in the startgate during the first downhill training in Lake Louise from her Facebook page.
Welcome back Lindsey!
Source: http://www.redbull.com/en/snow/stories/1331693038772/lindsey-vonn-starts-comeback-2014
