Team before Pozza di Fassa SL
Hi everyone,
After pushing and pushing, doing everything I could to rehab and strengthen my knee from the patella injury, it’s still lingering and I’ve decided to call it a year to get it fixed. I fought through the last few months, but I realized there is no use for me to go through the season without being fully recovered. I won’t do me any good to ski through a World Cup season when it’s not 100%. I wouldn’t ski to my potential and my rankings would just dwindle. This way, I can save my rankings for next year through injury protection and be fully recovered ready to go next season.
The last month my knee actually felt pretty good, and I was getting confident it would hold up through the whole season. There are still days that it feels great, but there are times where it swells up and gets pretty painful. That’s why it took me some time to make the decision. I was back and forth for a while, but I think this is the way to go to protect my future. It’s a very difficult pill to swallow, especially since I am still able to ski, but I just need to get my knee fixed to be able to ski at my prime.
Based on the surgery procedure they do, my recovery time should be between 4-6 months. I’ll be spending a lot of time in the gym this winter, but I am hoping to be back on snow in May or June…a perfect time to start skiing again…ha. By getting back on skis again in the spring though, I should have great training and prep and be back to 100 percent by the time the racing starts again next year.
At least I did get to ski a little bit of the season and got to start my first World Cup slalom in the US, which got rescheduled to Beaver Creek after no snow in Val d’Isere. I skied well, but not super fast and missed qualifying for the second run by only a few tenths of a second. My family and a few of my friends were able to take the workday off and come watch and that was awesome! It was great to have my close fans present!
Watching from the sidelines at Flachau World Cup
I also did get a little bit experience out of the Europe trip the last few weeks that I just got back from. Even though I didn’t start either of the World Cups, I did ski the Europa Cup slaloms leading up them. At a night race in Pozza di Fassa, Italy, I skied from bib 36 to 12 place. A pretty solid result and a nice race to put my mind a little at ease as I prepare for a long rehab process the rest of the winter.
It’s going to be tough to watch from the sidelines, and it will be my first time in my career doing it. The rest of the crew heads back over to Europe on Dec 29 for the rest of the World Cup season so best of luck to them, to all of Team USA, and to all my fellow friends racing! I’ll be cheering and hard at work. I’ll get the strongest I ever have been and back in no time.
Merry Christmas, happy holidays, and happy New Year!