ASPEN — Lindsey Vonn knows what it takes to be a successful downhiller, and she is sharing her secrets with Kaylin Richardson — even to the point of advocating the chocolate ice cream supplement diet.
Given the role gravity plays when a racer tucks the flat sections of downhill courses, a little extra weight can be an asset, and Vonn outweighs the slightly taller Richardson by about 20 pounds.
“She’s got some work to do,” Vonn said after a training run for today’s World Cup downhill on Aspen Mountain. “She’s got some more ice cream to eat. I’ve been working on my chocolate ice cream intake for a long time now, so I have a bit of a head start.”
Vonn has been ahead of Richardson since they competed for rival youth teams on tiny hills 15 miles apart in Minnesota’s Twin Cities a decade ago. Vonn made it big early, moving to Colorado to train with Ski Club Vail as a teenager and becoming a World Cup regular at age 17. Now she describes herself as “the old married woman” of the U.S. Ski Team at age 23, even though Richardson is 20 days older.
Vonn, whose maiden name was Kildow, has been on the World Cup long enough to do interviews in German. Richardson is in her third season on the World Cup, her second as a downhiller. She was winning three Nor-Am slalom titles (2003-05) when Vonn was emerging as a World Cup downhiller.
“I’ve had to work hard. It hasn’t always come easy, but I’m proud of myself,” Richardson said. “I was a good ski racer when I was little, but I was never a huge standout like Lindsey or Julia (Mancuso). I was always kind of in the back of people’s minds. It’s cool to get the recognition and to have the results, because after working so hard it’s great validation.”
Both are four-event racers, but Vonn has had her greatest success in downhill, a discipline Richardson is just learning.
Downhill involves the most risk — speeds in today’s downhill are apt to approach 80 mph — and puts the greatest premium on experience. Richardson is in the process of learning tactics Vonn has internalized.
Vonn won the season’s first downhill last week in Lake Louise, Alberta, and was the fastest racer in both training runs here. Richardson was visibly frustrated after struggling with her line, finishing 41st and 49th.
Vonn is sympathetic.
“I started skiing downhill when I was like, 10,” she said. “It just takes a while to be able to see the line. I know exactly where I want to go; it’s a sense you have. She’s in the learning process. She’ll figure it out. She’s a really talented skier, she’s very talented technically. She’ll get the hang of it.”
The hill where Richardson learned to ski is so small her brother can hit golf balls over it when it becomes a driving range in the summer. The hill where Vonn learned to ski isn’t much bigger. Areas like that can be great training grounds for slalom, but downhill requires a real mountain, which is why Vonn moved to Vail.
At 17, Vonn was sixth in the combined (downhill and slalom) at the 2002 Salt Lake Olympics, the best finish for an American woman at those Games. She has won six World Cup downhills and two super-Gs, was a double silver medalist at the world championships last season, and has set goals of winning World Cup titles in downhill and super-G this season.
Her success has been an inspiration for Richardson.
“I would look at her and go, ‘She did that, coming from Minnesota,’ ” Richardson said. “I’d watch her ski and go, ‘I know I can do that.’ Still, to this day, I’ll watch her in training or in video and I’ll go, ‘I can do that, too.’ She’s so good, it’s so awesome to have that resource.”
With Vonn recovering from knee surgery, Richardson won the downhill at the U.S. championships in March, but she still has a lot to learn in the speed events (downhill and super-G).
“Speed events are tough, because there’s so much feeling and experience that goes into skiing speed,” Richardson said. “I’m still a beginner in that way. Last year was my first year doing a lot of the World Cup downhills, and I’m competing against girls who have run it many, many times.”
But even when Richardson leaves the mountain frustrated by the learning process, Vonn sees her potential.
“She has a really good stance on her skis,” Vonn said. “Her body is really engineered well for skiing. She needs to get a little more meat on her bones for speed events. I’m trying to help her with that. We like desserts.”
John Meyer: 303-954-1616 or jmeyer@denverpost.com
