Lindsey Vonn is an American skiing icon and is considered one of the greatest alpine skiers ever. She has 82 World Cup wins, just 4 victories shy of the overall record by Ingemar Stenmark (86). Lindsey Vonn married fellow skier Thomas Vonn in 2007.

But their relationship widened the rift between the Olympic champion and her father. They separated four years later, and with their divorce came an opportunity for Vonn to reconnect with her father.

Lindsey Vonn asked her father for help during the divorce

Thomas Vonn and Lindsey Vonn had a nine-year age gap between them and met when Lindsey was only 17 years old. The two fell in love. But Lindsey’s father, Alan Kildow, disapproved of their relationship.

“As a father, as a parent, you want to protect and guide your children,” Kildow told Sports Illustrated. Despite her father’s discontent, Vonn got engaged, and it soured the relationship between the father and daughter considerably. Kildow did not receive a wedding invitation. 

For years, neither of them made contact. But four years later, Vonn decided to get a divorce. The 20-time crystal globe winner didn’t have a prenuptial agreement, which complicated things. So her sister encouraged her to reach out to their father. 

“He’s a lawyer; he’d been through a divorce with my mom. I knew the direction I was going to follow. But I needed help, so I called him,” Vonn told the New York Times. 

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“It was a difficult first conversation, but we kind of worked past everything. He apologized. It’s going to take a long time to build a relationship back, but it’s definitely come a long way since that first call.”

Vonn’s relationship with her father had always been on the rocks

Alan Kildow is the reason Lindsey Vonn started skiing. He put her in her first pair of skis when she was only 2 years old and taught her how to navigate the slopes. He introduced her to Erich Sailer, a storied ski coach, and brought her to Buck Hill, Minnesota.

But Vonn’s relationship with her father had been turbulent long before her ex-husband came into the picture. Talking to the Denver Post a few months before the Turin Olympics, the skiing legend opened up about their estranged relationship.

“He always supported me when I did well, which was 90 percent of the time, but when I didn’t, he didn’t handle it very well,” Vonn said. “It was so hot and cold. It was so much criticism and so much negativity, and it was really hard to balance my emotions.”

After they had reconciled, Kildow watched Vonn win bronze at the 2018 Games. “It’s great skiing, but it reminds me of something that Buddy Werner used to say,’’ Kildow told USA TODAY Sports. “He said there’s two places in the race, first and last, and I only want one of them.’’ But little by little, they are rebuilding their relationship.

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