Lindsey Vonn is female athlete of year
Gold and bronze medals at the Vancouver Games, plus a third consecutive World Cup overall title, helped Vonn become the 2010 Female Athlete of the Year, chosen by members of The Associated Press. She is the first skier -- male or female -- to win one of the annual AP awards, which began in 1931.
Vonn's accomplishments were many.
She was the first U.S. woman to win a gold medal in the Olympic downhill and the first woman with three overall World Cup titles in a row since Petra Kronberger of Austria in 1990-92.
She won a bronze medal in the Olympic super-G.
She had 11 World Cup race victories in the 2009-10 season, breaking her own American record of nine.
Her 35 career World Cup wins are more than any Alpine skier from the United States.
And her downhill, super-G and super-combined titles made her the first American to win three World Cup disciplines in a single season.
"Her dominance is very impressive. It's really a testament to her work ethic," said U.S. Olympic teammate Ted Ligety, an Alpine gold medalist at the 2006 Torino Games. "I can't really name anybody that works harder than she does."
Gold and bronze medals at the Vancouver Games, plus a third consecutive World Cup overall title, helped Vonn become the 2010 Female Athlete of the Year, chosen by members of The Associated Press. She is the first skier -- male or female -- to win one of the annual AP awards, which began in 1931.
Vonn's accomplishments were many.
She was the first U.S. woman to win a gold medal in the Olympic downhill and the first woman with three overall World Cup titles in a row since Petra Kronberger of Austria in 1990-92.
She won a bronze medal in the Olympic super-G.
She had 11 World Cup race victories in the 2009-10 season, breaking her own American record of nine.
Her 35 career World Cup wins are more than any Alpine skier from the United States.
And her downhill, super-G and super-combined titles made her the first American to win three World Cup disciplines in a single season.
"Her dominance is very impressive. It's really a testament to her work ethic," said U.S. Olympic teammate Ted Ligety, an Alpine gold medalist at the 2006 Torino Games. "I can't really name anybody that works harder than she does."
