After gifting gloves, Street has uneasy night before Vonn’s race

Seeing her onetime protege wearing bib No. 13 made longtime friend very worried.

- By Sam FaRMER

LINDSEY VONN readies to leave the downhill starting gate while wearing Picabo Street's gloves on Sunday.

(NBC)

There's a lot of love in those gloves.

Before her fateful downhill run Sunday — one that ended with a violent crash after 13 seconds — Lindsey Vonn pulled on a pair of out-of-production gloves from her childhood skiing idol, Picabo Street.

The gloves are weathered and white, their brightness dulled by the decades, with the brand name “reusch” across the knuckles and a big, plum-colored sun on top. On the wrist straps are Street’s initials, scrawled in marker.

Vonn didn’t announce the gesture, nor did NBC, which employs Street as a color commentator. Street was at the starting gate of the Olimpia delle Tofane course for Sunday's coverage.

Street confirmed to The Times that the two longtime friends made the glove exchange before the Olympics.

“When she saw a picture of me in those gloves, she was like, ‘Oh, those would be cool,” Street told The Times. “And I caught wind of it, and was like, ‘Well, I just happen to have them.’ ”