Lindsey Vonn and Axsel Lund Svindal 2012: GEPA footage
Lindsey Vonn Provides Aksel Lund Svindal to Comeback Staff
In some of the high-profile teaching bulletins in current ski racing reminiscence, Lindsey Vonn has confirmed that Aksel Lund Svindal will be part of her staff as a coach and tools strategist for the 2025–26 Olympic season.
Vonn shared the information on Instagram, writing, “Our careers have interlinked for thus a few years and now we have an amazing friendship with quite a lot of respect for one another.” She added, “Since we’ve each been longtime HEAD Ski athletes, the partnership makes good sense” [@lindseyvonn, Instagram, Aug. 6].
The transfer brings collectively two of probably the most adorned athletes in Alpine snowboarding historical past. Mixed, Vonn and Svindal personal 118 World Cup victories and 218 podium finishes — to not point out six Olympic gold medals and greater than a dozen World Championship titles. They each retired from racing in 2019 and now reunite with a shared purpose: serving to Vonn chase an Olympic medal at age 41.
From World Cup Rivals to Olympic Allies
Their paths have lengthy overlapped. They gained their first total World Cup titles in the identical season, 2008, shared the super-G globe in 2012, and even retired on the similar race in Åre, Sweden, in 2019.
“I’ve recognized Aksel for over 20 years,” Vonn stated in an interview printed by the Worldwide Ski & Snowboard Federation. “We educated collectively in Chile and Colorado, and even retired on the similar race. Having him by my facet now — not simply as a buddy, however as a coach — is one thing really particular” [FIS, “Legend Meets Legend,” Aug. 6, 2025].
Vonn returns with 82 World Cup victories, 138 podiums, 4 total titles, 16 self-discipline globes, and three Olympic medals, together with downhill gold at Vancouver 2010. Svindal brings deep experience and credibility, with 36 World Cup wins, 80 podiums, and 6 self-discipline titles — together with 5 in super-G and two in downhill. He earned Olympic gold in super-G at Vancouver and in downhill at PyeongChang in 2018.
Each endured extreme accidents all through their careers however repeatedly returned to the highest of the game. That shared resilience types one other layer of connection as they enter this new part.
A Groundbreaking Partnership
Svindal’s position will embody teaching Vonn on ways and serving to her refine her tools setup. As fellow HEAD athletes, they share technical data that gives a robust basis for collaboration.
“There are only a few folks on the earth I might belief in the case of line, method, and tools — and Aksel is completely one among them,” Vonn advised FIS. “He is aware of precisely what it takes to be one of the best of one of the best.”
Vonn stated she desires Svindal’s assist in embracing the extra aggressive race ways usually seen in males’s snowboarding, whereas additionally fine-tuning her technique for various kinds of programs.
“There might be sections of the racecourse the place she might be sooner than anybody,” Svindal stated within the FIS article. “Typically it comes right down to technique when taking a look at a course. You ask: The place can this race be gained?”
Chasing One thing Particular
Svindal, 42, retired in February 2019 after a legendary profession with the Norwegian nationwide staff. He gained the general World Cup title in 2009, together with season titles in downhill, large slalom, super-G, and mixed. His measured demeanor, technical experience, and expertise rebounding from damage make him an excellent mentor for Vonn’s formidable comeback.
“When one of many biggest to ever do the game calls you up and desires your assist, you’re honored and flattered,” Svindal stated. “I used to be a little bit stunned that I stated sure to her provide, however I do miss the game, and I actually do assume I could make a distinction.”
Vonn agreed: “Some males have questioned my decisions previously. However Aksel has all the time backed me. He believes in me — and I imagine in him.”
With the 2026 Cortina Olympics on the horizon, the comeback story of Lindsey Vonn simply gained one other layer of intrigue. Armed with perception, friendship, and some of the adorned coaches in ski racing historical past, she’s aiming for a historic return to the rostrum.
