Vonn, Kim Recognized As Laureus Award Winners

U.S Ski & Snowboard Team athletes Lindsey Vonn (Vail, Colo.) and Chloe Kim (Torrence, Calif.) joined golfing legend Tiger Woods and gymnast Simone Biles as the big U.S. winners of the annual Laureus World Sports Awards announced Monday in Monaco.

The Awards honored the greatest and most inspirational sports triumphs of the past calendar year and showcased the work of Laureus Sport for Good.

Skiing great Lindsey Vonn’s incredible career was recognized by the Laureus Academy with the Laureus Spirit of Sport Award. The Spirit of Sport Award is given at the discretion of the Academy, to recognize an athlete or team who have achieved remarkable success and displayed a relentless dedication to their sport. Vonn, the greatest female skier of all time, recently announced her retirement from the sport and won the FIS Alpine World Ski Championship downhill bronze in her final event Feb. 10 in Are, Sweden. Throughout her 18-year career, Vonn won eight World Championship medals, including two gold in downhill and super-G at the 2009 World Champs in Val d’Isere, France; three Olympic medals, including the downhill gold at the 2010 Games in Whistler, Canada; and a record 20 FIS Ski World Cup titles.

Seventeen-year-old American snowboarding sensation Chloe Kim, who became the youngest woman to win a Winter Olympics snowboarding gold medal at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, won the Action Sportsperson of the Year Award. Kim recently won her first FIS Snowboard World Championship gold medal in the halfpipe earlier this month in Park City, Utah. She also won the halfpipe gold - her fifth - at the X Games in Aspen, Colorado, last month. Olympic champion Shaun White (Carlsbad, Calif.) was also nominated in the category. 

The Laureus World Sports Academy – made up of 68 global sporting legends – volunteered their time to vote for the winners in each shortlisted category which recognizes sporting achievement in the 2018 calendar year. The Awards were hosted by actor James Marsden and featured entertainment from award-Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Jorja Smith.

After her record-breaking performance at the gymnastics world championships, in which she won four gold, one silver, and one bronze medal, Simone Biles was crowned Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year. Biles, who also won the Sportswoman Award in 2017, made history last year by becoming the first woman to win four all-around world championships. At just 21, she now has a record 14 career world titles. Double Olympic champion, historic four-time slalom world champion and 2019 super-G World Champion Mikaela Shiffrin (Avon, Colo.) - who has broken nearly every record there is to break in the sport of alpine ski racing this year - was also nominated for this category. 

Golfing star and 10-time Laureus Nominee Tiger Woods won his third Laureus Award, after winning the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year accolade at the 2000 and 2001 Laureus Awards. The American received the Laureus World Comeback of the Year Award for winning the Tour Championship, his first win in 1,876 days, returning to the game after spinal fusion surgery.

For a full list of this year’s award winners, visit awards.laureus.com.