Olympic champion speaks out
That’s why Maria Höfl-Riesch and Lindsey Vonn fell out
Updated 11/19/2025 – 9:05 a.mReading time: 2 minutes
Maria Höfl-Riesch, like Lindsey Vonn, has celebrated many successes on the slopes. The ski stars used to be good friends until things broke up.
Maria Höfl-Riesch is a three-time Olympic champion and ended her career as a ski racer in 2014. Her former competitor Lindsey Vonn also won gold at the Winter Games and is now back on the slopes in the World Cup. The German and the US athlete were once friends, but the relationship fell apart.
Höfl-Riesch has now spoken openly about the reasons for this. In the “Sport1” podcast “Deep Dive”, Höfl-Riesch said about her estrangement: “I don’t want to say that it was her fault that we fell out, everyone certainly had a part in it. But: She definitely couldn’t handle it as well when I hit her as the other way around.”
Vonn and Höfl-Riesch met at a Junior World Championships in Canada when they were 15 and later became strong competitors at World Cup level. While Höfl-Riesch became slalom world champion in 2009, Vonn secured the Super-G and downhill titles that year.
In the 2010/11 season, the German also won the overall World Cup – just three points ahead of Vonn. This wasn’t good for their friendship, as Vonn felt betrayed because of a canceled race. Höfl-Riesch said in the podcast: “When the duel for the overall World Cup came to a head, there was also a fight. That’s how it was.”
According to Höfl-Riesch, both of them had spoken out, but they were no longer able to restore the relationship they once had. Vonn is now active again in the World Cup and wants to take part in the games in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo next year.