Injury gives ski cross racer Brittany Phelan perspective heading into Olympics

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This article was published 01/02/2022 (1336 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Canadian ski cross racer Brittany Phelan has learned a lot about herself in the past four years.

The product of Mt-Tremblant, Que., won silver at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics and felt like she was primed for more heading into the Beijing Games. However, she suffered a devastating knee injury in February 2020 in Megève, France, when she overshot a jump and landed on one leg, blowing out her knee.

Despite 13 years of World Cup experience as both an Alpine skier and a ski cross racer Phelan had never had a season-ending injury but because of her knee she missed a year of skiing.

Growing up as a competitive skier many of her friends and teammates had lost months or even years to injury, but Phelan admitted she never understood the psychological toll it could take.

“Not that you forget about it, or don’t check in, but you don’t realize, on a personal level, how much work it is to come back, how isolating it can be,” said Phelan. “Every single day is dictated by your rehab.”

The 30-year-old Phelan began her rehabilitation in Calgary but then had to return to her home in Whistler, B.C., when the COVID-19 pandemic’s first wave limited her ability to train in Alberta.

Although her recovery was long and difficult, Phelan said she was grateful for the new perspective it gave her as well as the new appreciation for her friends who had similar experiences.

“I was definitely a bit disappointed in how naive I was to the whole process that so many of my teammates were quite close to me and had to go through,” she said.

Phelan rediscovered her form this season, earning a pair of World Cup podiums. She took silver at Val Thorens on Dec. 11, then bronze in Innichen, Italy, on Dec. 19. She also won Nor-Am Cup gold on Jan. 18 and 19 in Nakiska, Alta., in her final event before the Olympics.

Phelan is joined on Canada’s women’s ski cross team by Courtney Hoffos of Windermere, B.C., Ottawa’s Hannah Schmidt and Marielle Thompson of Whistler.

Like Phelan, Thompson is competing in Beijing after recovering from a major injury.

Unfortunately — or maybe fortunately — the 29-year-old knows how to prepare for an Olympics on a tight timeline after surgery. She ruptured her anterior cruciate ligament and medial collateral ligament in October 2017 while training for the Pyeongchang Games. She tore the same ACL in March, disrupting her 2021-22 training plan.

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“It’s kind of a similar situation but with a lot more time this time,” said Thompson, who won gold at the 2014 Sochi Olympics.

Thompson’s earned four World Cup podiums since her latest injury, with a bronze at Val Thorens on Dec. 12, gold in Arosa, Switzerland on Dec. 14, bronze in Innichen on Dec. 20 and silver in Nakiska on Jan. 15.

“Like in 2017 I have set myself up pretty well,” said Thompson. “I wasn’t feeling my best on my skis but I can take that not feeling 100 per cent I can still do pretty well.”

Hoffos and Schmidt are also podium threats, with both earning fourth place finishes on the World Cup circuit in the past year. Hoffos was fourth at Sunny Valley, Russia on March 13 and Schmidt just missed the podium in Innichen on Dec. 20.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 1, 2022.