Lindsey Vonn on Good Sleep, Great Skiing, and What She Learned in Her New Picabo Street Documentary

Lindsey Vonn may have retired from professional skiing, but that doesn’t mean she’s slowed down much. The former downhill superstar just published a memoir, Rise, earlier this month, detailing a life and career that has included 82 World Cup wins, 20 World Cup titles, three Olympic medals, and seven World Championship medals. And on January 21, a new documentary film she co-directed with Frank Marshall about her childhood idol, ’90s ski legend Picabo Street, will air on Peacock and Olympics.com ahead of the Olympic Winter Games in Beijing. PICABO explores lesser known aspects of Street’s life, and her challenges both in and out of the limelight and on and off the slopes. 

Vonn first met Street at an autograph signing at a ski shop in Montana when she was nine years old. “I didn’t really have a lot of skiers to watch growing up—skiing wasn’t really on tv,” Vonn says, “meeting her was such a game changer. I came home and I told my dad I wanted to be in the Olympics, just like Picabo. That drove me for many years. It really sparked that drive to achieve that goal.” At the time Vonn didn’t know what was going on behind the scenes, especially in regards to Street’s personal life, and what she uncovered in the documentary she thinks will surprise viewers. (So much so that she chose not to speak about it in depth, teasing “you’ll have to see it to find out.”) “I knew her story pretty well because I was a big fan—I mean maybe too much of a fan. I knew most of her life,” Vonn said. “But there were definitely things that I did not know, especially her relationship with her parents.” Street was arrested in 2016 on allegations of domestic violence against her father that shook the sports world; charges were dropped when her father ultimately took responsibility for the incident. “I didn’t know how she struggled with her father, and struggled with talking to people about it. I think it’s an important part of the documentary for many reasons, and it’s a conversation that will also empower many other women in the process.”

Vonn knows a thing or two about self-reliance. “I never worked with a sports psychologist, and never really talked to anyone about the psychology of skiing or sports performance, I never really asked for help,” she said. “I really learned through trial and error and experience and paying attention to what worked well or didn’t work well. I had been going through that since I was 12, at my first major international race, and I had a lot of pressure and I found a way through it, so I used similar tactics for the rest of my career, adjusting for how I felt and what the situation was.” Here, Vonn shares some of how she gets into fighting form.

Prioritize Sleep

Sleep is a huge part of it. I am a crazy sleeper. It’s so important for me. I always took naps, because your day is so full. And I would definitely prioritize naps, because if I didn’t get sleep, my mind was just not there, and you have to be mentally there in the starting gate before you’re essentially risking your life on the mountain. I always tried to get 10 hours. I’d say usually I got nine, factoring in my nap time. Some people say that the short naps are where it’s at, I totally disagree. I say a solid hour. Anything over an hour and a half and I’m probably more groggy than I am refreshed. But an hour was always a solid time for me. Didn’t need sleep aids… let’s just say that I have a certain skill set. And that includes sleeping on demand. Even now that I’m not competing, I’m still a pretty good sleeper. I have to physically exert myself. If I haven’t done anything then it’s more difficult to sleep, but I generally work hard enough—and I’m always working out at home with my Tempo or whatever—so I’m usually on the move and tired enough where I can fall asleep at any time. I could conk out right now for a quick 15 minutes if I needed to.

Get Your Head in the Game

You definitely need to get pumped up. When you’re racing downhill, you’re preparing yourself mentally to throw yourself down a mountain at 85 miles per hour, so you always have to be a combination of clear minded and incredibly fired up and aggressive. I would most of the time listen to rap music—Lil’ Wayne, Jay Z, and Eminem—and I had a specific pump-up playlist that I would listen to. And then when I was in the start gates it was all about breathing, and trying to be that combination of clear minded/calm and also incredibly aggressive. It’s a tough place to repeatedly get your mind to, but it is very important to get there.