2010

An earthquake devastated Haiti; Deepwater Horizon offshore oil platform exploded, killing 11 workers; and the Twins lost their sixth straight playoff series. But, enough with the disasters already.

Lindsey Vonn won her only Olympic gold medal, and won the World Cup in four different disciplines—the downhill, the Super-G, the combined and the overall. 

#6 Athlete

Lindsey Vonn

Lindsey Vonn grew up in Burnsville, MN, learned to ski at Buck Hill, and went on to become one of, if not the most, decorated skier in history. She retired in 2019 at age 34 with 20 World Cup titles, one more than Ingemar Stenmark. She won the Cup in her specialty, the downhill, eight times; the super G five times; the overall four; and the combined three. Her four overall titles ties Annemarie Moser Proell for the most ever by a man or a woman. She won 82 World Cup races, second only to Stenmark’s 86. She is one of six women to win races in all five World Cup disciplines—downhill, super G, giant slalom, slalom and super combined.

Vonn won two gold, three silver and three bronze in the world championships in 2007, 2009, 2015, 2017 and 2019, and an Olympic gold in 2010 and bronze in 2010 and 2018. She missed the 2014 Olympics due to injuries. 

She won a career high of twelve races in 2012, but her eleven wins in 2010 included her only Olympic gold medal. She won the Sportswoman of the Year award of the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation and the U.S. Olympic Committee. She won the World Cup in four disciplines in 2010 and repeated in all four in 2012. She held the #1 ranking in the downhill almost uninterrupted from 2012 to 2016.

• The Minnesota Twins won the Central Division lost to the New York Yankees in the ALDS 3-0, including 6-4 in the first game after blowing a 4-1 lead. It was their sixth straight playoff loss, four of them to the Yankees, with a total of 19 losses versus three wins.

• St. Paul Johnson won the boys Class AAA basketball title with a perfect 32-0 record. They beat Class AAAA champion Hopkins 86-78 in a holiday tournament, and it was the only game that Hopkins would lose as it won the second of three straight titles. The Lakeville North girls, led by Rachel Banham, won the girls AAAA title, also at a perfect 32-0. Jessie Diggins of Stillwater won her third straight Nordic skiing title.

• Minnesota-Duluth and coach Bob Nielson repeated as NCAA Division 2 football champions, beating Delta State 20-17 for the title. Concordia (St. Paul) won its fourth straight D2 volleyball title, while Augsburg won yet another Division 3 wrestling title.

• The Gopher basketball team went 21-14 and made it to the NCAA tournament in coach Tubby Smith’s first year. The Gopher track & field team again won both the indoor and outdoor titles. 

Year	Athlete of the Year	Team of the Year	Coach of the Year	Event of the Year
2010	1. Vonn (Olympic gold and bronze) 2. Mauer 3. Jessie Diggins, Stillwater Nordic skiing (state individual champion)	1 (tie). Augsburg wrestling Concordia (St. Paul) volleyball (32-4) Minnesota-Duluth football (all NCAA D2 or D3 champions) 2 (tie). Lakeville North girls basketball (32-0) St. Paul Johnson basketball     (32-0) (both state champions) 3. Minnesota Twins baseball (94-68 including playoffs, Central Division champion)	1. Vern Simmons, St. Paul Johnson basketball (state champion) 2. Tubby Smith, Minnesota Gopher basketball 3. Plasencia (Big 10 champions)	1. UMD beat Delta State 20-17 for its second NCAA D2 football title. 2. The Twins lost their sixth straight playoff series, four of them to the Yankees. 3. St. Paul Johnson beat Hopkins 86-78 in a holiday tournament game. Both went on to win state basketball titles.