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August 17, 2009 — Vail Resorts Monday announced a four-year sponsorship deal with World Champion American skier Lindsey Vonn, the defending two-time World Cup Overall champion who is a favorite to win a gold medal at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver.
“It would be hard to imagine any individual who better personifies the ideals of Vail Resorts, than Lindsey Vonn. Lindsey’s enthusiasm for skiing, her dedication and hard work, and her achievements both on the snow and off make her a role model for all of us, but especially for every kid participating in our sport,” said Rob Katz, chief executive officer and chairman of the board of Vail Resorts.
“Lindsey is truly a hometown girl made good and we could not be prouder to continue to be by her side on her epic quest to achieve five gold medals in Vancouver.”
Vail Mountain has supported Vonn, a product of Ski Club Vail, throughout her career and under the new partnership, Vonn will represent all of the company’s five ski resorts –- Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, Keystone and Heavenly (Calif.) and the Epic Season Pass.
Vonn will appear at select consumer events and ski shows in the U.S. and Europe this fall, prior to the start of the season, to generate excitement for skiing and snowboarding, the upcoming Olympic Games and to promote the popular Epic Season Pass, which offers unlimited, unrestricted skiing and snowboarding at all five Vail Resorts’ mountains and Arapahoe Basin in Colorado for $599.
“Skiing is truly my life and my passion and I am always striving to achieve excellence in everything I do on the snow. I could not be more proud to partner with Vail Resorts because they share the same values as I do. Everyone there is as passionate about the mountains as I am, and each of their five ski resorts truly defines the best that skiing and snowboarding has to offer,” said Vonn.
“Vail Mountain has always been my favorite ski resort. It’s where I grew up and learned to race. My husband Thomas and I are truly thrilled to be coming back to Vail and making it our home.”
At just 24, Vonn’s career thus far can only be described as “epic.” Considered one of the most successful ski racers -- male or female--in American history, Vonn is truly unique in being one of only a handful of racers who compete in five disciplines: Downhill, Super G, Giant Slalom, Slalom and Super Combined.
Vonn is the only American woman to have won two World Cup overall titles, which she achieved consecutively in the 2008 and 2009 winter seasons. She has made the World Cup podium 47 times, the most of any U.S. female, including 22 victories. In the 2009 winter season, she achieved a record nine World Cup wins in a single season.
She holds the World Cup overall and downhill titles (2008 and 2009), the World Cup Super G title (2009) and four World Championships medals: Gold in downhill and super G (2009) and silver in downhill and super G (2007).
Vonn competed in both the 2002 and 2006 Olympic Winter Games. At the 2006 Winter Games in Torino, Italy, she overcame a horrendous crash in a training run prior to the Downhill event, but went on to compete while injured, finishing in eighth place in the downhill and seventh in the super G. Vonn’s courageous performance earned her the U.S. Olympic Committee’s “Olympic Spirit” award.
While she was born in Burnsville, Minn. in 1984, Vonn considers Vail her “hometown” as she and her family commuted to Vail for training for several years before finally moving there permanently in the late 90s to further her racing career.
Vonn spent her formative years on Vail Mountain, honing her racing skills in all alpine disciplines with the Ski & Snowboard Club of Vail, then went on to achieve success in major U.S. and international events such as the Junior Olympics, Junior Worlds, NorAms and Europa Cup before entering the International Ski Federation (FIS) World Cup circuit.
When she’s not rigorously training or garnering medals, Vonn makes a beeline for Vail’s legendary Back Bowls to free ski and in the off season enjoys playing tennis (she is an enthusiastic fan of Roger Federer) and cycling.
She and former teammate and Olympian Thomas Vonn married in September 2007. When they’re not traveling on the road, the Vonns will be making their home at the Arrabelle at Vail Square, A RockResort in Vail.
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