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Vonn hopes to tide over strained ties
Source: Agencies |
February 11, 2010, Thursday
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THE Vancouver Olympics are shaping up to be Lindsey Vonn's shining moment, the apex of a career that began years ago when her father introduced her to skiing. He saw enough talent in his daughter to move the whole family to Colorado.
Yet Alan Kildow, himself a former competitive skier, will almost certainly have to watch on television, when Vonn competes as perhaps the biggest American star of the Winter Games after a falling out a few years ago.
The feud began before the 2006 Turin Olympics.
"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 told the Denver Post a few months before the games. "It was so hot and cold. It was so much criticism and so much negativity, and it was really hard to balance my emotions."
It's an off-limits subject for all concerned. Kildow, a Minneapolis lawyer, is happy to chat about his daughter's skiing, just not the source - or extent - of the rift.
"I don't get into the details," Kildow said. "She's my daughter, I love her, and in that sense it's great."
The tension escalated with Lindsey's relationship with Thomas Vonn, a former US Olympic skier who is nearly nine years older. Kildow disapproved, but the two were married in 2007, and Vonn became the rock in her life.
For that, Lindsey's mother, Linda Krohn, couldn't be happier. "He's so good to her, so that she only has to worry about ski racing," said Krohn, who was divorced from Kildow in 2003 and now lives in Apple Valley, a suburb of Minneapolis. "It's a wonderful relationship."
Krohn has hardly missed a race this season, getting up early morning to watch her daughter's competitions on the Internet.
After each race, Krohn sends off an e-mail to her daughter to say how proud she is.
In another suburb of Minneapolis, Kildow watches, too. He takes in the competitions with a keen eye. What he sees is the skier he pretty much always envisioned, the one who at 17 showed a glimpse of her great promise, making her first Olympic team in 2002 and finishing sixth in the combined in Salt Lake City.
"Technically, she is so perfect," Kildow said. "The hip position, the shoulder position, the hand position - she's the best. ... I think Lindsey is the best now as far as I've ever seen. Of course, I'm biased."
Vonn has blossomed into one of the top skiers in US team history. She is the first American woman to win back-to-back overall World Cup championships, in 2008 and 2009. She's one victory shy of matching Bode Miller's national record of 32 World Cup victories and is closing in on her third consecutive World Cup overall and downhill titles. She's already secured her second straight super-G crown after winning in St Moritz, Switzerland, last month. In the Vancouver Games, she'll ski all five women's Alpine races - downhill, super-G, giant slalom, slalom and super-combined - and is an overwhelming favorite in the downhill.
Kildow's own promising skiing career was cut short by a knee injury. While he's quick to say she doesn't need his advice, he credits his daughter's success to an extreme work ethic and fearlessness on the slopes.
"The ability to hold the throttle down when most reasonable people would let up on the throttle - Lindsey has that," he said.
Kildow calls his daughter and drops her e-mails, just to check in. Whether she responds, he wouldn't say. "That's between her and I."
Thomas Vonn said the relationship has not thawed. "Nothing has changed there, but that's as far as we really comment on it," he said. "She chooses not to speak with him, and there's nothing really going on there at all."
Yet Alan Kildow, himself a former competitive skier, will almost certainly have to watch on television, when Vonn competes as perhaps the biggest American star of the Winter Games after a falling out a few years ago.
The feud began before the 2006 Turin Olympics.
"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 told the Denver Post a few months before the games. "It was so hot and cold. It was so much criticism and so much negativity, and it was really hard to balance my emotions."
It's an off-limits subject for all concerned. Kildow, a Minneapolis lawyer, is happy to chat about his daughter's skiing, just not the source - or extent - of the rift.
"I don't get into the details," Kildow said. "She's my daughter, I love her, and in that sense it's great."
The tension escalated with Lindsey's relationship with Thomas Vonn, a former US Olympic skier who is nearly nine years older. Kildow disapproved, but the two were married in 2007, and Vonn became the rock in her life.
For that, Lindsey's mother, Linda Krohn, couldn't be happier. "He's so good to her, so that she only has to worry about ski racing," said Krohn, who was divorced from Kildow in 2003 and now lives in Apple Valley, a suburb of Minneapolis. "It's a wonderful relationship."
Krohn has hardly missed a race this season, getting up early morning to watch her daughter's competitions on the Internet.
After each race, Krohn sends off an e-mail to her daughter to say how proud she is.
In another suburb of Minneapolis, Kildow watches, too. He takes in the competitions with a keen eye. What he sees is the skier he pretty much always envisioned, the one who at 17 showed a glimpse of her great promise, making her first Olympic team in 2002 and finishing sixth in the combined in Salt Lake City.
"Technically, she is so perfect," Kildow said. "The hip position, the shoulder position, the hand position - she's the best. ... I think Lindsey is the best now as far as I've ever seen. Of course, I'm biased."
Vonn has blossomed into one of the top skiers in US team history. She is the first American woman to win back-to-back overall World Cup championships, in 2008 and 2009. She's one victory shy of matching Bode Miller's national record of 32 World Cup victories and is closing in on her third consecutive World Cup overall and downhill titles. She's already secured her second straight super-G crown after winning in St Moritz, Switzerland, last month. In the Vancouver Games, she'll ski all five women's Alpine races - downhill, super-G, giant slalom, slalom and super-combined - and is an overwhelming favorite in the downhill.
Kildow's own promising skiing career was cut short by a knee injury. While he's quick to say she doesn't need his advice, he credits his daughter's success to an extreme work ethic and fearlessness on the slopes.
"The ability to hold the throttle down when most reasonable people would let up on the throttle - Lindsey has that," he said.
Kildow calls his daughter and drops her e-mails, just to check in. Whether she responds, he wouldn't say. "That's between her and I."
Thomas Vonn said the relationship has not thawed. "Nothing has changed there, but that's as far as we really comment on it," he said. "She chooses not to speak with him, and there's nothing really going on there at all."
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