Lindsey Vonn at autograph session with fan foto: Nella

Lindsey Vonn and Sofia Goggia attended the Festival dello Sport* in Trento, Italy last weekend.

Many fans were attracted to the talks of top skiers Dominik Paris, Aksel Lund Svindal, Federica Brignone, and Deborah Compagnoni. Their discussions were held in theaters freely accessible to the public.

Vonn and Goggia were the main attraction

But the largest crowd showed up for Goggia and Vonn: with a long line at the entrance and overbooking, their talk was chosen as the festival’s big Sunday afternoon finale. It was a well-received standing-room-only event.

The two ski queens and Olympic champions discussed their views on topics ranging from performance, women in sports, personal growth, resilience, and many more. “Sofi” and Lindsey confirmed during the session that they have much in common.

When asked when at the start of a race what they feared the most, a lousy result or crashing and getting injured, they agreed it was a terrible result. Both women revealed that when they pushed their limits, on many occasions, they felt fearless.

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Vonn agrees to interview

After the presentation with Goggia, signing autographs, visiting a wine vineyard, and meeting fans, Lindsey Vonn shared some personal updates with Ski Racing Media. SRM appreciates her generously granting a question-and-answer interview. 

SRM: After retirement, you’ve been busy with many activities, your foundation, companies, and film production. What are you up to now?

Vonn responds with a laugh, “What am I not up to? I have a lot of new challenges, which really excite me. I have many opportunities and don’t put any limitations on what I can do in the future. I’m currently working on a lot, but I think there’s much more to be done.

The one thing I’m really excited about is my production company. Claire, Abby and I are working on the projects together and we’ve got a lot of fun ones coming up. However, directing and producing the documentary Picabo was an amazing project for me, you know,  obviously, because Picabo (Street) was my idol. Additionally, I am committed to my ski clothing line (Legacy) with HEAD and my Google company (YNIQ), and we just launched our sunglasses. So there are plenty of projects happening and a lot of exciting news coming in the future. I can’t tell you anything yet, but I will tell you all soon.“

Vonn will be cheering

SRM: The World Cup Opener in Sölden is just a few weeks away. What is your expectation for the American girls, Mikaela Shiffrin, Breezy Johnson, and Nina O’Brien?

LV: “Yeah, I’m really excited to watch Nina and Breezy. They’ve had a lot of tough challenges with their injuries and Nina experienced a very spectacular injury, a tough one to come back from. But she started skiing a few days ago and looks good. So, of course, I will cheer for them and Mikaela. She won last year’s overall and finished really strong, especially in the speed events. So I’m excited as always to watch her succeed. I’m just excited for winter; for me, it feels like it’s been a very long summer and I’m excited to watch ski racing and be on the mountain again.”

Fan of the sport

SRM: Do you plan to attend some races or commentate on TV?

LV: “I think I’m going to be at some races: the men’s event in Aspen, maybe Kitzbühel. We’ll see. I enjoy being a spectator. I don’t know if I’ll be commentating; I will save commentating for World Championships and Olympic opportunities. But I’ll always be a fan, and I’ll be watching either way.”

Olympic bid committee

SRM: About the Olympics, you’re a part of the bidding process for Salt Lake City. Can you tell us more about it, please?

LV: “It was an honor the day they asked me to be part of the Olympic bid committee and share the athletes’ experience, which is important to me. Because, you know, my mother was handicapped slightly and her going to the Olympics was difficult, there are obstacles that I would love to correct for the families of current competitors.”

“I hope we get the bid; I think we are in a very strong position, and if not 2030, then definitely 2034. I don’t know if we will be able to announce it at this time because there’s obviously a new president. But we’ll see. Working with President Bach has been amazing. It’s been an enjoyable experience. I hope I can contribute something positive to the bid.”

* Festival dello Sport is an event organized by the newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport and Trentino Region, aiming to involve and inspire the public on different disciplines through open talks with sports personalities.

This year the festival featured, among others, American athletes Dan Peterson (basketball) and Robert “Bob” Beamon (long jump), Brazilian Zico, Falcao (football), Frenchman Yannick Noah (tennis), Italians Marcell Jacobs (running), Federica Pellegrini, Benedetta Pilato (swimming), Vincenzo Nibali (cycling), Mattia Binotto of Ferrari (Formula One).