What happened in this episode?
Lindsey Vonn reflects on the sacrifices and routines she says underpinned her ski racing career, including leaving mainstream school for online study and prioritising training over a normal teenage social life. She describes a peak-period training load of up to three sessions a day, with heavy lower-body and eccentric strength work to handle g-forces, alongside agility and therapy.
Vonn also discusses identity and retirement, saying she had to learn to separate “Lindsey the person” from “Lindsey the skier”, and that the pressure of the start gate is a sensation she cannot replicate elsewhere. She details her post-2019 retirement work in business and investing, including board and advisory roles, and talks about choosing partnerships based on the people running the organisation.
On health, Vonn gives specific accounts of injury management and medical decisions. She says she stopped racing in 2019 after repeated surgeries, describing competing with severe knee damage and multiple braces. She recounts that her knee did not improve after retiring and that reduced activity worsened it, leading her to seek a knee replacement, which she says restored capabilities she had not had for years and helped prompt her return.
The episode also touches on illness prevention around major events, anti-doping constraints on supplements, and her upcoming surgical plans, including a November procedure to remove metal and the absence of an ACL, which she says will keep her from skiing this winter.
