Industry News
In a very emotional interview for the International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS), Italian ski racer Sofia Goggia shared her feelings about competitive skiing and her struggle to come back from her most recent injury. Goggia broke her leg during training on February 5, 2024, on the Casola Nera run in the Ponte di Legno Tonale ski area in Italy. The Italian ski racer got her inside ski caught in a gate on a right turn while training for the World Cup in Soldeu, Andorra, sending the ski racer flying. She had the fracture surgically fixed in the Madonnina Clinic in Milan, Italy. Her surgeons, Dr. Andrea Panzeri and Dr. Riccardo Accetta, confirmed that the skier had fractured her tibia and tibial malleolus in several places and the leg had to be set with a rod and seven screws.
It is not Goggia’s first serious injury: the 31-year-old skier has torn her ACL several times in both knees, fractured her tibial plateau more than once, fractured the fibular malleolus, suffered a compound radius fracture of the left arm, fractured her fibula, and last season famously fractured her hand during a race, however, still finished the Downhill in second place, then returned the next day with a freshly operated hand to win the second Downhill race at St. Moritz, Switzerland.
Goggia has the reputation of being a ‘tough cookie’ but in her recent interview FIS shared on social media, the Italian superstar is showing a rare vulnerable side. The Italian athlete admits she had self-doubt and struggled and spent the first 20 days thinking she might quit competitive ski racing. She had found the recovery from this most recent injury much harder than anticipated, “When you are young you recover well […] the recovery after the first two ACLs…,” the Italian says with a shrug “.. it was easy. But I have to say the days I have spent after this last injury to my tibia were really tough.” After the first three weeks post-surgery, things started to get better and the Queen of Speed has found her fighting spirit again.
The Italian skier admits she thought about quitting but what got her through was the fact that there is simply nothing else she loves as much as skiing, ”Even though it’s pretty hard and even though I was going to quit after the injury […] you will never get any emotion like you get in the start gate, so I will return, for as long as possible.” She is fully aware that she will not be able to race competitively her whole life so she is planning on making her recovery count and to come back stronger than ever to the sport she loves. “I really love to ski,” Sofia Goggia says with a smile.
The Italian speed specialist is planning on returning to on-snow training in July on a glacier in Europe before heading to South America for summer training. Goggia has been training hard in the gym and in the pool, working on regaining strength and mobility in her right leg. She has shared some of her training sessions on social media and now more than 60 days post-surgery, she is looking stronger than ever.
We look forward to seeing Sofia Goggia back on the snow soon.
That incision going from the ankle to the lower shin doesn’t look like it will make for a comfortable boot contact point while racing or skiing recreationally.