Alpine Skiing

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With Lindsey Vonn touted as the star of 2010 Winter Olympics, an entire vocabulary of monikers, or rather Vonnikers, has sprung up around the 25-year-old skier from Vail, Colo.

Vonncouver. Vonntourage. Vonnstopable. This week, she launched a collection of shirts with the catchy handles.

"I think it's pretty funny," said Vonn, attempting to shrug off the hype.

"I don't really take it to heart. I just think it's something that someone made up. It's a funny little slogan, but I don't know if it really means anything."

But Vonn means serious business on the slopes.

Despite a back-and-forth battle this season with friend Maria Riesch, who races for Germany, Vonn is on her way to locking down her third consecutive overall World Cup title and she's the overwhelming favourite to clean up in the mountains of Whistler, B.C.

She is already the most successful female skier in U.S. history and, with 31 World Cup victories, she's poised to eclipse the record of 32 set by teammate Bode Miller, who at 32 has been on the circuit three years longer than Vonn.

Vonn has been to the Olympics twice before, but went home empty-handed. Now, she is expected to make a medal feast out of the 2010 Games in her five events, evocative of Michael Phelps's ownership of the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing.

This week, The Associated Press predicted Vonn would leave the Games with two gold medals in the downhill and super giant slalom and a bronze in the combined. And Sports Illustrated, which featured the skier in a tuck position with her long blonde hair flowing on the cover of its Olympic preview issue, figures she will take gold in both speed events.

Vonn, who uses men's skis in both the downhill and the super G because of their stability at high speeds, has been struggling in the technical disciplines of slalom and giant slalom after injuring her hand in December during a race in Austria.

"She's one of the best skiers I've ever seen in the world," said Karen Percy Lowe, who claimed two bronze medals in Calgary in 1988 and expects Vonn to live up to the expectations. "Her confidence and her strength and her commitment off the hill and just in the course is just amazing. I just have never seen that before."

Ken Read, a former member of the legendary Crazy Canucks, which halted the European domination on the circuit in the 1970s and 1980s, echoed that sentiment when asked who will likely win medals at the Games.

"Lindsey Vonn, Lindsey Vonn, Lindsey Vonn, Lindsey Vonn, Lindsey Vonn," he said.

Yet the affable athlete, who is married to former ski racer Thomas Vonn, who doubles as her coach and she largely credits for her success, has humbly said she'd be satisfied with a single bronze.

"Everyone is out there essentially to beat me and it's hard," Vonn said during a recent conference call with reporters from St. Moritz, Switzerland, where she was preparing for the last speed events before the Games.

"It's hard to be consistently fast day in and day out. It's hard to be able to stay focused and keep your concentration."

And there has been much distraction lately, with talk of finally unlocking her secrets to success.

Coaches with the Austrian team were reported as suggesting that Vonn had an advantage over smaller athletes in the speed events because of her size.

Vonn, who stands 5 feet 10 and weighs 160 pounds, brushed off the comments and went on to win three consecutive days of racing in Austria in January.

"I just think it's pretty ridiculous and it definitely irritated me and it definitely gave me a little bit of extra motivation on race day," Vonn told reporters after the dustup.

Power and agility is more important than weight, she said.

"If weight were the key to success in ski racing, then everyone would be stuffing their faces with food," she said, adding that, "As a woman, I kind of want to drop the subject if I can."

The Austrians later apologized to her.

But still, she remains a target - at least when it comes to skiing.

Hugues Ansermoz, coach of Switzerland's women's ski team, said just weeks before the Games that the only way to outpace Vonn is to wait for her to make an error.

"Lindsey can only be beaten by herself," he said. "She needs to make a mistake or she needs to doubt something. Right now, you're just happy when you're on the podium next to Lindsey."

At Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, in January, five-time Olympic medalist Anja Pärson from Sweden couldn't contain her frustration after finishing third to Vonn in the super G.

"A lot of girls can be faster than Lindsey, but she is relaxing and we are trying too much," she told reporters. "I think I'm wanting it too much. I'm trying too hard and need to step back."

The Swede, who is ranked third overall, came back in St. Mortiz to win the last super combined of the season before the Olympics, while Vonn finished third. (Riesch kept Vonn off the podium in the downhill the same weekend, but the American shook off the loss and went on to win the super G to clinch the overall title in that discipline.) Max Gartner, Alpine Canada's chief athletics officer, said Vonn and Riesch are medal contenders across all five disciplines.

"It's pretty clear that Lindsey Vonn has been winning everything so she is definitely the No..1 favourite in the speed events," he said.

But the Canadian squad, with Emily Brydon and Britt Janyk as the best medal hopes, remain undaunted by the hype machine building around Vonn.

"Right now, she's the girl to beat," Brydon said, "When you're watching her ski, you're always comparing yourself, and more often than not you're thinking, well I can beat that. I can do that."

Lindsey Vonn

Age 25

Residence Vail, Colo.

World Cup debut Nov. 18, 2000 in Park City, Utah

World Cup race victories 31 (17 downhill, nine super giant slalom, two slalom, three combined)

World Cup season titles Six (2008, overall and downhill; 2009, overall, downhill and super G; 2010, super G)

World championship medals Four (Two gold - 2009 downhill and super G; two silver - 2007 downhill and super G)

Olympic appearances Two (best result a sixth place in combined in 2002)