Maria Höfl-Riesch talks about her rivalry with ski superstar Lindsey Vonn – and how the friendship broke down.
Since childhood, the Olympic champion has dueled with the American Lindsey Vonn. In the new podcast SPORT1 Deep Dive , Höfl-Riesch talks about a friendship that turned into a bitter rivalry.
Maria Höfl-Riesch and Lindsey Vonn were once close friends
“We were naturally the chicks”
Vonn was “very, very ambitious and driven,” revealed the former world-class skier. She herself was also ambitious, but Vonn “is an even more extreme number.” Which is also shown by the fact that she is still racing.
Höfl-Riesch and Vonn met as 15-year-olds, their first connection was the competition. On the way to the top of the world, an initial friendship became an increasingly tense sporting competition, which ultimately led to a break.
“I don’t want to say that it was her fault that we broke up, everyone certainly had a part in it,” says the former world-class athlete: “But … she definitely couldn’t deal with it as well when I beat her than the other way around.”
“The media fueled a lot in us”
The two future superstars first met at the Junior World Championships in Quebec. “We were both there as the youngest age groups. Year 80 to 84 was allowed to participate and we as 84s were of course the chicks,” Höfl-Riesch recalled.
It wasn’t about medals at the time: “And I naturally compared myself to the others from the year 84 – namely Lindsey.” On the sidelines of the constant comparison, they “also became a little friends.”
Both athletes found their way into the World Cup at a young age, the competition remained: “At that time, nobody knew us and it wasn’t about so much for us. Of course you compare yourself and want to be faster than the other who is in the same year.”
And then things took their course: “Later, of course, the media fueled a lot in us and also fueled this duel in us.”
Maria Höfl-Riesch and Lindsey Vonn (l.) in the 2007 season
While the careers of Höfl-Riesch and Vonn have some parallels, the German had to unwillingly give way to her American rival in the meantime. The German suffered two cruciate ligament ruptures, among other things.
“She also had a lot of bad luck with injuries, but much later than me – so exactly in the time when I had my two knee injuries, she actually rose,” says Höfl-Riesch. In the year before her first serious injury, Vonn “wasn’t that good yet.”
“Then there was also a fight”
“And we got along well then, just like when I came back from my injuries, when she was of course clearly the better one, until I had completely recovered, both mentally and physically,” says Höfl-Riesch, admitting without reservation. “When the duel then intensified around the overall World Cup, there was also a fight. That was it.”
In the 2010/2011 season, Höfl-Riesch won the overall World Cup with just three points ahead of Vonn, who felt cheated because of a canceled race – and subsequently proved to be a bad loser.
Höfl-Riesch, who had already won two of her three Olympic victories at this point, was disappointed and there was an open break. Later there was a discussion and rapprochement, but Höfl-Riesch said years ago that “it is not the way it was between us before.”
The special relationship that once existed could no longer be fully restored.
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