Sponsors Hoping Lindsey Vonn Is Breakout Star In Vancouver

Vonn Has Already Netted Numerous Endorsement Deals

U.S. skier Lindsey Vonn boasts an "impressive roster of sponsors that are banking on her being the breakout star" of February's Vancouver Olympics, according to Rachel Blount of the Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE. Vonn's success on the slopes has "already netted her endorsement deals for everything from cold medicine to mascara to bread to ski gear." Her consistent success, "combined with her charisma, photogenic looks and unpretentious manner, have attracted a variety of sponsors eager to align themselves with an athlete predicted to win big in Vancouver." Under Armour Senior VP/Brand Steve Battista, whose company signed Vonn four years ago, said, "She has the triple crown when it comes to marketing. She's a great competitor and an amazing athlete, and she has a magnetic personality. ... She is absolutely going to be the face of the Winter Olympics." Vonn is the primary spokesperson for Under Armour's "cold-weather gear, appearing in media and in-store advertising as well as on the home page of the company's website." As part of a deal with Procter & Gamble, Vonn last summer was photographed for Cover Girl and Pantene shampoo advertisements, and will promote other P&G products "to a mass audience." Red Bull, Vonn's primary sponsor, has hired a "full-time publicist for her, as has the Vail ski resort," and her popularity has "grown so much that she needs two agents from sports management giant IMG to handle it all." Vonn said that additional sponsorship deals are "in the works." Vonn: "It's gotten to the point where I have something scheduled almost every day" (Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE, 11/29).

GET BY WITH A LITTLE HELP: In N.Y., Nathaniel Vinton reported Vonn's "relentlessly sunny disposition owes at least partly to the support she receives from 'the Vonntourage,' the small network of helpers that Vonn has built up around herself in recent years." She plans to "launch the concept as a full-blown commercial enterprise" in the coming weeks. The group includes trainers from Red Bull and ski technician Heinz Haemmerle, who "previously tuned skis for downhill champions like Patrick Ortleib and Bode Miller." Vonn's husband, former U.S. skier Thomas Vonn, is "at the center of the Vonntourage" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 11/29).