One of the greatest American alpine skiers of all time, Lindsey Vonn grew up in St. Paul, Minnesota, where she first clicked into skis at just three years old and won her first competitive event by age fourteen. What followed was a career defined by uncommon drive and historic achievement—early promise on the world stage, relentless training, and the courage to return after devastating setbacks.
She crashed at the 2006 Turin Olympics, a moment that could have ended her pursuit altogether. Instead, it became a turning point. Four years later, Vonn rose to the top of the sport, capturing Olympic gold in the downhill at the 2010 Vancouver Games and a bronze medal in super-G during the same Olympics. Even after retiring in 2019, her story refused to end quietly. In a stunning display of resolve, she stepped back out of retirement, daring to chase one more Olympic dream—only to suffer a serious injury just days before the 2026 Games, a reminder that in elite sport, the margins are razor thin and the cost can be steep.
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What Happens When You Are Just Slightly Off Course
Lindsey Vonn’s Olympic story has never been a straight downhill run. It is a career etched with brilliance and brokenness—gold medals and torn ligaments, podiums and hospital beds. In a recent Instagram post reflecting on her 2026 Olympic journey, Vonn wrote with striking honesty: “Yesterday, my Olympic dream did not finish the way I dreamt it would. It wasn’t a storybook ending or a fairytale—it was just life.”
She went on to explain how, in downhill ski racing, the difference between a strategic line and a catastrophic injury can be as small as five inches.
“I was simply five inches too tight on my line,” she shared, “when my right arm hooked inside the gate, twisting me and resulting in my crash.”
It wasn’t fear, weakness, or lack of preparation. It wasn’t even her past ACL injuries. It was five inches. The result was a complex tibia fracture and three surgeries.
From her gold medal in the downhill at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics to her emotional bronze medal finish at the 2018 PyeongChang Games, Vonn’s athletic legacy is secure. Add to that 84 World Cup victories before her retirement in 2019. But just as defining as the medals are the injuries: a devastating crash at the 2006 Torino Olympics, multiple ACL tears, fractured bones, missed Games, and years of relentless rehabilitation. Time and again, her career turned on inches—how far a knee twisted, how narrowly a ski edge caught, how precisely she held her line at full speed. In alpine skiing, five inches can separate gold from obscurity.
Vonn encouraged her followers not to retreat from risk: “We dream. We love. We jump. And sometimes we fall… But that is also the beauty of life—we can try. I tried. I dreamt. I jumped.”
Her life on snow, which began at just three years old, is a testimony to perseverance. She didn’t quit. She kept training. She kept showing up. But after three surgeries and facing months of recovery, Vonn posted something that cuts deeper than any crash report: “Success today has a completely different meaning than it did a few days ago.”
Five inches changed what success meant. It moved from gold medals to walking without crutches. From Olympic glory to simply healing. From podiums to rehabilitation. The margins that matter shift drastically when reality crashes into our carefully constructed definitions of achievement.
Vonn’s story forces an uncomfortable question: If five inches can end an Olympic dream after decades of preparation, what about the spiritual inches we miscalculate every single day?
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4 Biblical Reminders about Perseverance and Finishing Well
Scripture repeatedly reminds us that life is a race, and we are all in training—whether we realize it or not. The question is not if we are running, but how and toward what prize.
1. Life Is Like a Race
The Bible doesn’t shy away from athletic imagery. Life is movement, momentum, direction.
“Do you not know that in a race all the runners run?” - 1 Corinthians 9:24
Like Vonn’s career, our lives are not static. We are always moving—either toward God or subtly drifting off course. Inches matter.
What race are we talking about? It’s the race to gain eternal life, the prize, the realm of heaven, the presence of God. The other choice is separation, darkness, eternal pain, and suffering. The point of racing reveals the significance of choosing wisely to honor God with values and lifestyle. Are we living to please and honor our Creator?
The race entails moving toward the golden prize in eternity. Winning the Gold Medal of Heaven brings a “crown of righteousness” handed out by the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, Jesus. The rewards of this life will be more than our skill, intellect, work, or church membership. It will entail our character, the values we honored, and the way we lived for godly righteousness, morality, and integrity.
Paul’s declaration to young pastor Timothy captures this motivation: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” (2 Timothy 4:7). He concludes with the promise given “to all who have longed for His appearing.”
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2. There Is a Prize Worth Persevering For
“Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope.” - Romans 5:3–4
Athletes endure pain because the prize is worth it. Scripture affirms that suffering is not wasted when it produces something eternal.
Physical sickness, pain, the stress of losing a loved one, or a broken marriage—all such trials of life affect us deeply. At times, we feel as if we may lose our zest to live or become so discouraged that we can’t function. Romans 8:28 reminds us that everything God permits serves only to shape us into stronger, more mature people in faith, developing character traits that matter for eternity.
Gold medals fade. Bodies fail. But character, hope, and faith endure.
The prize of eternal life produces a new heavenly body, no pain, no sorrow, crying, or death. Revelation 21:4 reminds us, “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”
If we are serious about getting that crown of gold, our training will surpass the rigors of troubles, the agonies of pain, the sorrows of discouragement. Instead, we make pleasing God by living our highest priority.
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3. Lay Aside What Hinders the Line
Just as five inches off-line can end a race, small compromises can derail a life of faith.
“Let us lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.” - Hebrews 12:1
What compromises keep us five inches away from our goal?
- The streaming show you keep watching even though it mocks everything you believe.
- The “just this once” compromise at work that becomes “just every time it’s convenient.”
- The relationship you know dishonors God, but you’re five inches too invested to walk away.
- The truth is, you soften it because speaking it fully might cost you a friendship.
The prayer time you skip because you’re five inches too tired, too busy, too distracted.
None of these feels catastrophic in the moment. But five inches off-line, repeated day after day, doesn’t keep you on course; it puts you in a completely different destination. In the race toward eternity, those margins aren’t measured in ski gates. They’re measured in choices. And they matter infinitely more.
Paul’s warning to the Galatians cuts to the heart of this: “You were running well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth?” Notice he doesn’t ask what hindered them—he asks who. Sometimes the five inches that derail us come with a name, a face, a voice we’ve learned to trust more than God’s. The hindrances aren’t always obviously sinful. They’re the relationships that subtly pull us off course, the voices that make compromise sound like wisdom, the influences that make us run five inches closer to the world’s line than God’s.
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4. Run in Obedience, Eyes Fixed On the Eternal Goal
Training is meaningless without direction. Scripture calls us to run intentionally, guided by God’s Word.
“So I do not run aimlessly.” - 1 Corinthians 9:26
“I run in the path of your commands, for you have broadened my understanding.” - Psalm 119:32
And ultimately, our eyes are not fixed on a podium, but on Christ Himself:
“Let us run with perseverance… fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.” - Hebrews 12:1–2
Five Inches and Eternity
Jesus told a parable in Matthew 7 about two builders: one built his house on rock, the other on sand. When the storms came—and they came for both—the foundation made all the difference. Rock held. Sand washed away.
A life built on God’s principles outlasts every storm. Character forged in obedience to His Word stands the test of both time and eternity. The question isn’t whether storms will come. It’s whether your foundation can hold when they do.
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The Snowball Effect of Daily Discipline
What Is the "Narrow Way?"
Jesus didn’t soften the stakes. He taught that the road to heaven is narrow and few find it, while the world’s widest road has crowds of travelers who never realize they’re headed in the wrong direction.
“The one who stands firm to the end will be saved.” - Matthew 24:13
Practical Training We Can Apply Daily
Vonn spent decades training—hours in the gym, careful nutrition, relentless focus. If you haven’t developed a daily habit of God’s Word, start with five minutes of reading and five minutes of prayer. Just five minutes. But don’t stop there. Olympic athletes train for hours daily. For a prize that lasts forever, what would sufficient training look like? Training your mind to grow in the knowledge of Jesus will unfold miraculous changes in character, relationships, outlook, and success.
What Are We Training For?
Lindsey Vonn’s journey invites us to ask the deeper question: What are we training for?
Races are won or lost by inches. But eternity is determined by whether we press all the way into God—or stop five inches short, convinced that ‘close enough’ will do. And in the end, those final five inches matter more than we could ever imagine.
A Prayer to Perservere
Jesus,
Don’t let me stop five inches short. Keep my eyes fixed on You, my foundation firm on Your Word, and my heart running hard toward the only prize that lasts. When I’m tempted to settle for close enough, remind me: eternity allows no margins for error. In Jesus’ name,
Amen.
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Originally published Friday, 13 February 2026.