Four Colorado women among SI’s most fit athletes
Four Colorado Olympians — skiers Lindsey Vonn and Mikaela Shiffrin, runners Emma Coburn and Jenny Simpson — have been named among the fittest athletes in the world by Sports Illustrated magazine.
In this week’s issue, SI compiled lists of the top 50 fittest men and women as determined by a panel of four experts. Vonn is listed 10th, right behind tennis star Serena Williams, and Shiffrin is 13th.
Both Vail Valley residents could win multiple medals at the Winter Olympics next February in PyeongChang, South Korea, and will be heavily promoted by NBC in the run-up to the Games.
Coburn and Simpson, both of whom are Boulder residents and University of Colorado graduates, won medals in track and field at the 2016 Rio Olympics and world championships medals this season.
Coburn, 26, is ranked 34th on the SI list. She claimed a bronze medal in the steeplechase at the Rio Games and a gold medal last month at the world championships.
Simpson, 31, is 41st on the SI list and is arguably the greatest female 1,500-meter runner in U.S. history. She took silver at the Rio Olympics and bronze at the world championships this year, her third career world championships medal.
Vonn, 32, has won more World Cup races than any other woman in history (77) and is closing in on the all-time record (86) held by Ingemar Stenmark of Sweden. She is a two-time Olympic medalist and has won the World Cup season title four times. She will be a favorite to win the downhill at the Olympics and a strong challenger for a medal in super-G.
Shiffrin, 22, won the World Cup overall title and two world championships med-
als last season. She will be a favorite for medals in slalom, giant slalom and combined at the PyeongChang Olympics.
The magazine provides lists and a short story, but online there are blurbs and photos for each athlete. Of Vonn it says: “She’s battled with injuries throughout her career, but even broken bones haven’t stopped the 5-foot-10, 160-pound skier from winning medals. At age 32, Vonn is one of only six women to have won World Cup races in all five disciplines of alpine skiing (downhill, super-G, giant slalom, slalom and super combined) and she is super fit. From pull-ups to squats and everything in between, Vonn is a beast in the gym.”
SI named American gymnast Simone Biles the world’s fittest woman and Real Madrid soccer player Cristiano Ronaldo the fittest man. No male athletes from Colorado made SI’s list.