Olympic Skiing Champ Lindsey Vonn Ready To Take on the World Again

The year since the Vancouver Olympics has flown by for U.S. skier Lindsey Vonn. After winning gold and bronze medals, she slowed down long enough to help crack a case on the Law & Order finale, accept two ESPY Awards and hit a hole-in-one at a golf event. Back on the slopes, she's again dueling her main rival, Germany's Maria Riesch, for the World Cup title. They'll face off at the FIS Alpine Ski World Championships, beginning Tuesday in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany — which happens to be Riesch's hometown. TV Guide Magazine recently caught up with Vonn to talk about life on and off her skis and her expectations for worlds.

TV Guide Magazine: What will it be like on Maria's home hill?
Vonn: I've spent a lot of time in Garmisch, because Maria's my friend and I've spent Christmas [with her] there for the last six or seven years. It's a really nice downhill, pretty challenging on the lower half of the course. It suits my style pretty well. I'm sure I'll get some people cheering for me, but the majority will go to Maria.

TV Guide Magazine: What are your goals?
Vonn: I would really love to defend my downhill and super-G titles. I would also like to do well in the super combined [one run each of downhill and slalom]. The giant slalom, I'm optimistic but not expecting a ton. Slalom hasn't been going very well for me right now, but I have won on the slalom track before, so anything's possible.

TV Guide Magazine: You've made major mistakes in downhill and super-G, but still won races.
Vonn: I feel like maybe I'm trying to push the limits a little bit too much because I know Maria is right on my tail. I've been able to recover from my mistakes pretty well and keep things going. It's just part of ski racing.

TV Guide Magazine: After the hole-in-one, are you ready to join the LPGA Tour?
Vonn: [Laughs] I think I should practice a little more. It was the first round of 18 holes I'd ever played in my life. I felt like the more I did, the better I got. My teammates were more excited than I was. They were telling me that they'd played for 30 years and they'd never gotten a hole-in-one.

The television schedule for the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships (races also stream live, for a fee, at universalsports.com):

Tuesday, Feb. 8
Women's super-G: noon/11am c, Universal Sports

Wednesday, Feb. 9
Men's super-G: noon/11 am c, Universal Sports

Friday, Feb. 11
Women's super combined: 11am/10c, Universal Sports

Saturday, Feb. 12
Highlights: 1/noon c, NBC
Men's downhill: 3:30/2:30c, Universal Sports

Sunday, Feb. 13
Women's downhill: Noon/11am, NBC and 12:30/11:30am c, Universal Sports

Monday, Feb. 14
Men's super combined: noon/11am c, Universal Sports

Thursday, Feb. 17
Women's giant slalom: 11am/10c, Universal Sports

Friday, Feb. 18
Men's giant slalom: 11am/10c, Universal Sports

Saturday, Feb. 19
Highlights: 3/2c, NBC
Women's slalom: 4/3c, Universal Sports

Sunday, Feb. 20
Men's slalom: 11am/10c, Universal Sports

To find Universal Sports on your cable system, click here.

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