Lindsey Vonn Shares What It Takes To Be A Winner – And It’s Not Always About Winning

Olympic skier Lindsey Vonn knows what it is like to compete and live like a champion. But she also knows what it’s like to get back up.

Lindsey Vonn on winning, the skier is photographed in the mountains at Lake Louisephoto credit: under armour

The most awarded skier, Lindsey Vonn doesn’t see winning as an endgame

Lindsey Vonn is strong. And on so many levels. With just under five minutes to chat with the World Champion and Olympic skier at the launch of her new Under Armour clothing line at the Fairmont Lake Louise in Albert, I could sense her strength just in her presence. (No wonder her New York Times best-selling book is called Strong Is The New Beautiful.)

So when I ask her about her #BHmoment, she says a time that most of us wouldn’t think of a low point, when we didn’t feel “strong.” But that is her emotional clarity that makes her strong, too.

Check out the Canadian touches in Lindsey Vonn’s ski collection.

Her #BHmoment

“When I crashed at the Olympics in 2006, I thought I had broken my back. I realized that I wasn’t using every opportunity that I had. I was taking ski racing for granted. And I think about that all the time still.”

What she learned

“I have to seize every opportunity. I have to work at 100 per cent. I don’t want to be finished with something, get done with a workout and think I probably could have worked harder. That’s the most important thing in my life is knowing that I used every opportunity that I have had.”

The exercise she loves and hates at the same time

“I hate working on the track, but I love it. It’s something that I’m not really good at, but I’m working on agilities, hip mobility with the hurdles and stuff like that. It definitely is good for me.”

This is what it’s like to run in the new UA HOVR Sonic running shoes. 

Being driven is just who she is

“I have always been that way. But more recently, after my grandfather passed away, I know that it came from him. And my father is exactly the same way. It’s not always a good thing – we kind of overdo it. We may not always be working smarter, but we are always working harder. It’s something that I’ve always done.”

What she tells herself when she isn’t motivated

“I just think about what my competitors are doing and I know that if I want to win, I have to work harder than them. That always gets me out of bed really fast.”

Need some motivation to workout? Here are 10 hacks that will get you moving!