Latest news with #Svindal
France 24
5 days ago
- Sport
- France 24
Vonn appoints Svindal as coach ahead of 2026 Olympics
The former Olympic and serial world champion stunned the sports world when she returned to the US ski team last year aged 40, five years after retirement. She has her sights set on adding to the downhill gold she won at the 2010 Vancouver Games at Milan/Cortina next year with her close friend Svindal now on her coaching team. "Bringing Aksel onto my team for this season feels like a natural and incredibly exciting step," Vonn said on Wednesday. "We've shared so much history on the mountain, from training to winning World Cup titles, and there's a deep level of trust and respect that's developed over the years. "To have him officially on my team as we push for the Cortina Games is a huge boost." Svindal, a two-time former overall World Cup champion and double Olympic gold medallist, and Vonn will begin preparations for Milan-Cortina with a training camp in Chile "later this summer". Vonn, who has 82 World Cup wins to her name, was forced into retirement following a serious knee injury. But after undergoing a titanium reconstruction of her knee, she returned to competition last season, picking up the first podium of her return at Sun Valley in March.
5 days ago
- Sport
Lindsey Vonn hires former ski great Aksel Lund Svindal as coach ahead of Olympic season
KENNELBACH, Austria -- KENNELBACH, Austria (AP) — Lindsey Vonn has added former ski great Aksel Lund Svindal to her coaching team as she prepares for next year's Winter Olympics. The 40-year-old American skier, who won the gold medal in the downhill at the 2010 Games, returned to the sport last year with a new titanium knee and plans on competing at the Milan-Cortina Olympics in Italy from Feb. 6-22. Vonn had to cut her career short in 2019 due to a series of crashes and injuries, but then she had two titanium pieces inserted into her right knee before her comeback. Svindal, a two-time Olympic champion, will begin coaching Vonn at a training camp in Chile later this summer, according to a statement released Wednesday by Head, her equipment supplier. 'To have him officially on my team as we push for the Cortina Games is a huge boost,' said the 82-time World Cup winner. "This comeback is about pushing boundaries and proving what's possible, and I believe Aksel will help give me the extra edge I will need on this ambitious journey. I am grateful to have him on my team and I couldn't ask for a better partner.' Svindal won four Olympic medals and is a five-time world champion. He retired after winning silver in the downhill in his final race at the 2019 world championships. He said he was "a bit surprised when Lindsey called me, but mostly honored.' Vonn concluded her comeback season with a second-place finish in a World Cup super-G in March. It was her first World Cup podium spot since March 15, 2018, when she finished third in a super-G. A year later, she earned downhill bronze at the world championships.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Lindsey Vonn adds Aksel Lund Svindal as coach for 2026 Olympic run
Lindsey Vonn is bringing in fellow Olympic gold medalist Aksel Lund Svindal as a coach as she bids for a fifth Olympics next February. Svindal, who like Vonn retired at the 2019 World Championships, will begin coaching Vonn in person at a training camp in Chile later this summer. He previously helped Vonn remotely last season, when she returned to ski racing for the first time in five years, according to a press release. "Bringing Aksel onto my team for this season feels like a natural and incredibly exciting step," Vonn said in the release. "We've shared so much history on the mountain, from training to winning World Cup titles, and there's a deep level of trust and respect that's developed over the years." Svindal will be Vonn's principal coach while Chris Knight, her coach last season, remains on her staff, according to The New York Times. "I love skiing and I've stayed in contact with the sport after I retired," Svindal said in the release. "I was a bit surprised when Lindsey called me, but mostly honored. She is one of the absolutely greatest skiers of all time, and I'm very impressed by her determination in this comeback. She knows me quite well, so she wouldn't have asked unless she really thought I could contribute." Vonn, who has Norwegian heritage, used to train with Svindal and fellow Norwegian ski racer Kjetil Jansrud. "My known relatives have the surname 'Nilsen,' which Kjetil and Aksel enjoyed calling me on the hill, as a nickname of sorts," Vonn wrote in "Rise," her 2022 memoir. In early 2020, Vonn watched her first ski race as a spectator since her first retirement. She shared the moment with Svindal, a gold medalist in 2010 (super-G) and 2018 (downhill). "He's always been such a generous, positive sportsman, especially when it came to talking technique and helping other skiers, and he's brought the same attitude into his retirement," Vonn wrote. "As we watched our fellow racers, now from the other side, he shared such a great perspective. 'I love the sport, and I want other people to love it,' he said. 'Even though I can't do it anymore, I still want to share that passion.' When I heard his words, I felt my resentment of skiing begin to melt away. Aksel helped me remember why I did it in the first place — because I loved it. That epiphany brought me to a more balanced place. Now I know I can still appreciate skiing, that I will always have that same love for it. No one can ever take that away." Vonn capped her comeback season by finishing second in her last race of the 2024-25 campaign — the super-G at March's World Cup Finals in Sun Valley, Idaho. Vonn, 40, shattered the record of oldest women's World Cup podium finisher. Austrian Alexandra Meissnitzer made her last podium at 34 years and nearly 9 months old in 2008, according to 'I usually do better when the pressure's higher,' Vonn, an 82-time World Cup winner and the 2010 Olympic downhill champion, said that day. 'It's the last race of the season. I just put it all on the line. This is the level that I know I can ski. I know I can even do better than that. It's been a rough season of people saying that I can't, that I'm too old, that I'm not good enough anymore. I think I proved everyone wrong.' Vonn's goal in her comeback is to make her fifth Olympic team in 2026, then retire for good. A nation can qualify up to four skiers per Olympic race, and Vonn was the third-ranked American last season in the downhill and second in the super-G. The Olympic team for the Milan Cortina Games will be named in the winter closer to the February Games. IOC's Christophe Dubi discusses 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympic prep with 200 days to go Christophe Dubi discussed venue preparation, authorized neutral athletes and one Olympic gold medalist's request for a schedule change. Nick Zaccardi,
Winnipeg Free Press
5 days ago
- Sport
- Winnipeg Free Press
Lindsey Vonn hires former ski great Aksel Lund Svindal as coach ahead of Olympic season
KENNELBACH, Austria (AP) — Lindsey Vonn has added former ski great Aksel Lund Svindal to her coaching team as she prepares for next year's Winter Olympics. The 40-year-old American skier, who won the gold medal in the downhill at the 2010 Games, returned to the sport last year with a new titanium knee and plans on competing at the Milan-Cortina Olympics in Italy from Feb. 6-22. Vonn had to cut her career short in 2019 due to a series of crashes and injuries, but then she had two titanium pieces inserted into her right knee before her comeback. Svindal, a two-time Olympic champion, will begin coaching Vonn at a training camp in Chile later this summer, according to a statement released Wednesday by Head, her equipment supplier. 'To have him officially on my team as we push for the Cortina Games is a huge boost,' said the 82-time World Cup winner. 'This comeback is about pushing boundaries and proving what's possible, and I believe Aksel will help give me the extra edge I will need on this ambitious journey. I am grateful to have him on my team and I couldn't ask for a better partner.' Svindal won four Olympic medals and is a five-time world champion. He retired after winning silver in the downhill in his final race at the 2019 world championships. He said he was 'a bit surprised when Lindsey called me, but mostly honored.' Vonn concluded her comeback season with a second-place finish in a World Cup super-G in March. It was her first World Cup podium spot since March 15, 2018, when she finished third in a super-G. A year later, she earned downhill bronze at the world championships. Thursdays Keep up to date on sports with Mike McIntyre's weekly newsletter. ___ AP skiing:
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Lindsey Vonn hires former ski great Aksel Lund Svindal as coach ahead of Olympic season
KENNELBACH, Austria (AP) — Lindsey Vonn has added former ski great Aksel Lund Svindal to her coaching team as she prepares for next year's Winter Olympics. The 40-year-old American skier, who won the gold medal in the downhill at the 2010 Games, returned to the sport last year with a new titanium knee and plans on competing at the Milan-Cortina Olympics in Italy from Feb. 6-22. Vonn had to cut her career short in 2019 due to a series of crashes and injuries, but then she had two titanium pieces inserted into her right knee before her comeback. Svindal, a two-time Olympic champion, will begin coaching Vonn at a training camp in Chile later this summer, according to a statement released Wednesday by Head, her equipment supplier. 'To have him officially on my team as we push for the Cortina Games is a huge boost,' said the 82-time World Cup winner. "This comeback is about pushing boundaries and proving what's possible, and I believe Aksel will help give me the extra edge I will need on this ambitious journey. I am grateful to have him on my team and I couldn't ask for a better partner.' Svindal won four Olympic medals and is a five-time world champion. He retired after winning silver in the downhill in his final race at the 2019 world championships. He said he was "a bit surprised when Lindsey called me, but mostly honored.' Vonn concluded her comeback season with a second-place finish in a World Cup super-G in March. It was her first World Cup podium spot since March 15, 2018, when she finished third in a super-G. A year later, she earned downhill bronze at the world championships. ___ AP skiing: The Associated Press
