Lindsey Vonn’s career is defined as much by her resilience as by her speed, with injuries testing her limits time and again. Over two decades on the slopes, she endured a series of setbacks, whether it was torn ACLs, broken bones, concussions, or a devastating crash at the 2013 World Championships in Schladming that required major knee surgery. Yet, she refused to let injury end her story, pushing through grueling rehab sessions to return to the start gate. Her last return after 5 years of hiatus, that too, at 40 years of age, is a testament to her perseverance. But it isn’t a tumble on ice that still brings tears—it’s the empty spaces left by the people she’s lost.

In 2018, she scattered some of her grandfather’s ashes near the Olympic downhill in South Korea, a quiet act that said as much as any podium speech ever could. She raced with “D.K.” on her helmet—her shorthand for Don Kildow, and “believe” on the thumb of her right glove in his memory, who was a Korean War veteran, died on November 1, 2017, at 88. And this summer, Vonn pointed to a ritual that’s grown with her grief.

In an Instagram Story shared ahead of the 2025 skiing season, she posted a photo of her helmet covered with the initials of the loved ones she has lost, writing: “When I retired in 2019 there was only one name on my helmet…. My angel army has grown.” If a champion’s armor can also be a diary, how many pages has hers collected by now?

Start with the man whose initials were there first: Don Kildow, the grandfather who helped build her courage. She honored him at PyeongChang by wearing “D.K.” and later spreading some of his ashes near the course—a promise kept on the hill where speed meets consequence. And as years passed, the list lengthened.

In August 2022, Vonn lost her mother, Linda Krohn, at age 70, to ALS  amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)—also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease—a progressive terminal neurological disease that attacks a person’s motor neurons, causing the muscles to atrophy until death. “I try not to cry publicly too often, but when I’m home, I let myself cry and I don’t try to stop. I could be crying for a long time or for a minute, but acknowledging that I’m feeling a certain way helps me.” She has since worked publicly to raise awareness, crediting her mom’s resilience for shaping her own.

Then came the heartbreak of her four-legged family: Bear, an 8-year-old dog, who died in January 2022 of hemangiosarcoma- an aggressive cancer in his heart. She also shared the news, calling him a “brave boy” who was “special.” And then, Lucy, her Cavalier King Charles Spaniel who passed on March 30, 2025. “RIP Lucy… my heart will never ever be the same,” she wrote, a caption that read like a eulogy from the trail. And her most recent loss?

Lindsey Vonn is mourning Erich Sailer, her legendary Buck Hill coach—an architect of American ski racing—who died at 99 in August 20, 2025. “It’s hard to put into words how much of an impact Erich Sailer had on my life,” she wrote in a tribute, echoing what Minnesota outlets reported as the sport saluted its teacher. When the mentor who taught you to attack the fall line is gone, where do you store the courage he left behind?

For Vonn, the answer lives on the shell of a helmet: Initials turned talismans, an “angel army” riding with her into every carve and glide. The races will come and go; the ink stays—so when she clicks into her skis again, she will be carrying them all down the mountain!

Meanwhile, despite carrying such a huge weight on her heart, she has made a stellar comeback and is roaring towards the Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics.

Lindsey Vonn eyes one more run and maybe a farewell with purpose

Lindsey Vonn shocked the world when, in November 2024, she announced she was coming out of retirement. At 40, after a successful partial knee replacement, she rejoined the U.S. Ski Team, literally trading an ice pack for titanium, and hit the snow with fire in her eyes. She told U.S. Ski & Snowboard, “Getting back to skiing without pain has been an incredible journey,” and added that she was “looking forward to being back” with the team.

And then she started racing. In December, Vonn finished 24th in a downhill at Copper Mountain. Not glamorous, but a marker of progress. In St. Moritz, she broke into the World Cup circuit again, posting 14th in her Super-G comeback. By January, she was right there in St. Anton: Sixth in downhill and a close fourth in Super-G.

Just when skeptics might’ve thought it was a nostalgic fling, she roared back onto the podium, second place in the Super-G at Sun Valley in March, becoming the oldest woman ever to podium in World Cup skiing.

This season wasn’t just a comeback; it was clearly a setup for one final summit. The 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan-Cortina. Vonn’s eyes are on Cortina, her favorite course, and that finish line might just be where she writes her goodbye. What else could make that story even more powerful!!!