Winter Lee Vinecki (born December 18, 1998, in Grand Rapids, Michigan) is an American marathon runner, triathlete, and aerial skier.

Biography

Vinecki ran a marathon in Antarctica on March 30, 2013, when she finished the Antarctica Marathon with a time of 4 hours, 49 minutes, and 45 seconds, giving her third place in the women's race. In November 2013, she completed a marathon in Athens, Greece, which made her the youngest person to complete a marathon on seven continents, as she had done so on the other six continents previously. However, on September 6, 2014, Vinecki's record as the youngest person to run a marathon on all seven continents was broken. She ran these marathons with her mother, Dawn Estelle, and the two are the first mother-daughter pair to complete seven marathons on seven continents. The marathons were in the United States, Kenya, Antarctica, Mongolia, Peru, New Zealand, and Greece. At the Andes Adventures Inca Trail Marathon to

Machu Picchu Machu Picchu is a 15th-century Inca citadel located in the Eastern Cordillera of southern Peru on a mountain range.UNESCO World Heritage Centre. It is located in the Machupicchu District within Urubamba Province above the Sacred Valley, which ...

in Peru, Vinecki was the women's overall winner and set the women's course record. She was the national IronKids triathlon champion in 2010 and 2011 and finished in 2012 as an official ambassador for IronKids. After meeting Emily Cook in 2011, Vinecki started training in

aerial skiing Aerial skiing or aerials is a freestyle skiing discipline where athletes ski down a slope to launch themselves off a kicker (a vertically inclined ramp) and perform multiple twists and flips before landing on an inclined landing hill. Aerialists ...

. She lives with a host family in Park City, Utah, training at Utah Olympic Park, while her family lives in

Salem, Oregon Salem ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of Oregon, and the county seat of Marion County, Oregon, Marion County. It is located in the center of the Willamette Valley alongside the Willamette River, which runs north through the city. The river ...

. She qualified for the 2013 FIS Junior World Ski Championships but was unable to attend due to scheduling. In March 2014, she was named as part of the U.S. Freestyle Junior Worlds Team. The 2014 FIS Junior World Ski Championships were held later that month in Chiesa in Valmalenco, Italy. Vinecki placed fifth in ladies' aerials with a total of 162 points. She had a goal to compete in the

2018 Winter Olympics , nations = 93 , athletes = 2,922 (1,680 men and 1,242 women) , events = 102 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , opening = , closing = , opened_by = President Moon Jae-in , cauldron = Kim Yun-a , stadium = Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium , winte ...

. At age nine, Vinecki created a nonprofit organization, Team Winter, which raises money to fight

prostate cancer Prostate cancer is cancer of the prostate. Prostate cancer is the second most common cancerous tumor worldwide and is the fifth leading cause of cancer-related mortality among men. The prostate is a gland in the male reproductive system that sur ...

, which her father died from. As of November 2013, the organization has raised over $400,000. In 2011, Vinecki was the recipient of the ANNIKA Inspiration Award. In August 2017, Vinecki received the Athletes in Excellence Award from

The Foundation for Global Sports Development The Foundation for Global Sports Development is a 501(c) organization which creates and supports programs promoting sportsmanship, education, fair play and ethics for children around the world. Attorney David Ulich is president of the foundation ...

in recognition of her community service efforts and work with youth.

References

External links

*
Team Winter website

Twitter
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vinecki, Winter Living people 1998 births American female marathon runners American female freestyle skiers Sportspeople from Grand Rapids, Michigan 21st-century American women Freestyle skiers at the 2022 Winter Olympics Olympic freestyle skiers for the United States