CHAPTER ONE Starting on the Slopes When Lindsey Kildow looked at her mother for the first time there was nobody looking back She nearly lost her mom before she could understand that she had one It was October 18 1984 Linda Krohn awoke that morning with a terrible headache She was rushed to the hospital where she gave birth to her daughter Lindsey But Krohn suffered a stroke during the delivery The attack could have killed her Krohn survived somehow But her left leg was paralyzed She remained in a coma for 10 days A nurse showed her the healthy baby girl Krohn did not even realize it was her daughter She recalled nothing about the next seven weeks She did not even remember Lindsey’s name Little could Krohn have imagined that the world would someday know her daughter’s name They would know it as Lindsey Vonn one of the finest skiers ever The seeds of that greatness were planted on the slopes of the Buck Hill Ski Area in her hometown of Burnsville Minnesota Buck Hill is where two-year-old Lindsey first tottered her way around on skis It would become her home away from home 6
Starting on the Slopes This photograph shows skiers on Buck Hill in Minnesota where Lindsey learned to ski and refine her skills She simply loved skiing She would follow her father Alan Kildow down the slopes or wait for him at the bottom of the hill He would record her tiny ski steps with his video camera She would drink hot chocolate and enjoy the day with her dad 7
A smiling Lindsey poses with her father Alan Kildow after a World Cup downhill race in Cortina d’Ampezzo Italy in 2015 Both Lindsey’s father and grandfather were skiers Alan Kildow wanted his daughter to follow in his ski steps He had learned the sport from his father Lindsey’s grandfather Don Kildow inspired her later in life He had certainly inspired Alan who became quite accomplished on the slopes Alan even won the overall title at the 1970 national junior championships But his dreams of Olympic glory were shattered when he tore up his knee skiing on a glacier Something About Sailer Among the coaches that trained Alan Kildow was an Austrian immigrant named Erich Sailer Sailer began coaching at Buck Hill and hired Kildow as an assistant It was Sailer who started to transform young 8 LINDSEY VONN OLYMPIC SKI CHAMPION
Veteran ski instructor and coach Erich Sailer was born in Telfs a town located in Austria in the Alps Sailer helped Lindsey develop her talents on the slopes Starting on the Slopes Lindsey into a skiing superstar Not that Sailer believed that was possible after watching her ski for the first time He was not impressed with six-year-old Lindsey Sailer even felt sorry for her dad He figured Alan Kildow was badly mistaken if he thought Lindsey would ever ski like a champion He recalled his thoughts in an interview with New York Times Magazine Poor Alan Sailer remembered thinking He has a real turtle here She moved extremely slow She moved like a turtle Lindsey did not move like a turtle for long She began racing a year later She gained a passion for the sport Lindsey became so motivated by age eight that she expressed a desire in a school assignment to win more Olympic medals than anyone ever Her talent as well as the demanding style of her father and support of her grandfather made those goals seem possible 9
