Lindsey Vonn welcomes Olympic champion as new team member while gearing up for upcoming Winter Games

Lindsey Vonn recently welcomed Aksel Lund Svindal as a new addition to her skiing team ahead of kickstarting the new season. The American recently concluded the 2024-25 skiing season in March after her comeback.

Currently, Vonn is in her downtime, preparing for the upcoming season and the Winter Olympics. She announced that Svindal would be her new coach and equipment strategist to hone her skills and train better. Svindal is a Norwegian former alpine ski racer and Olympic champion. He is a two-time Olympic gold medalist and has earned nine World Championships medals in his career.

Vonn announced his welcome on her Instagram handle, sharing a bunch of pictures with him and penning a lengthy note in the caption that read:

"Excited to finally announce that Olympic Champion @asvindal will be joining my team as a coach and equipment strategist for the upcoming season! 💪🏻🙌🏻 Our careers have interlinked for so many years and we have a great friendship with a lot of respect for each other. Plus, since as we have both been long time @head_ski athletes, the partnership makes perfect sense," wrote Lindsey Vonn.

Exuding excitement about the new partnership, she added:

"Throwing back to when we both won overall titles back in 2008, shared super global in 2012 and even retired (the first time😉) at the same time in 2019, we’ve known each other for a long time. 😁🏆🏆 Super excited for the journey ahead… Let’s go! 🚀"

Lindsey Vonn returned to the slopes in November last year after taking a break of almost six years. She retired in 2019, citing several injuries. Vonn proved her legacy in the sport by making a comeback at 45, delivering some stellar performances. She concluded the season with a second-place finish in the World Cup Super G race finals in Sun Valley, Idaho, on March 23, 2025.

Lindsey Vonn opened up about the hardest moments after her return

Lindsey Vonn's comeback to the slopes marked her resilience and her determination for the sport; however, it was a difficult journey for her. She discussed the challenging run following her comeback in a conversation with FIS Alpine. She revealed that her time at Cortina d'Ampezzo, where she ended up with a 20th-place finish, was a tough time for her.

Calling it her 'low point,' she said that she wanted to do better but faced some trouble in the last part. Opening up about constantly trying hard, she said:

"I think maybe Cortina was probably a low point because I really was skiing well, and I really wanted to do well there, and I, for some reason, had some trouble with the last part of the course. But yeah, I mean that's ski racing. You know, things happen, and you just have to keep trying and keep moving forward. It's no different than any other, you know, year, or every person has the same obstacles at some point in their life."

Just ahead of this, she said that analyzing what was going right and wrong and trying to understand how to fix things was hard to do during the season. Lindsey Vonn recently celebrated 20 years of partnership with Red Bull and also penned a heartfelt message about her association with the brand.

Edited by Samya Majumdar