SOELDEN, Austria — Nina O’Brien’s rollercoaster ski career over the last three seasons includes a gold medal at the 2023 world championships and breaking her left lower leg twice.
This weekend, the American starts yet another comeback season.
“In so many ways it’s uncomfortable and nerve-racking, but on another hand it’s familiar and it feels like my world and my family. Physically I feel ready, mentally I’m ready, and I’m excited to be here,” O’Brien said on the eve of Saturday’s World Cup opener in Austria, her first top-level race in more than 19 months.
Born in San Francisco and grown up skiing in Palisades Tahoe and Burke Mountain, O’Brien has been racing on the World Cup circuit since 2016.
Mishap struck for the first time in February 2022, when she badly crashed near the finish of her first Olympic race, the giant slalom at the Beijing Games. A gruesome compound fracture left her bone protruding from her leg and O’Brien needed four surgeries.
“When I came back from my injury in Beijing, I remember like having initially some good results and then struggling and feeling like that struggle was actually more painful,” O’Brien said.
“When I went through this dip, it really hurt my heart. And so, just knowing that kind of return to racing and to peak performance isn’t always linear is something that I’m aware of now.”
O’Brien found her way back again and teamed with Paula Moltzan, Tommy Ford and River Radamus to win win the team event at the 2023 worlds in France.
“That middle period of the season where I was struggling, I really did come out of it. And towards the end of the season, I was skiing some of the best GS that I ever have,” she said.
O’Brien had not much time to build on that. During training camp in New Zealand in the 2023 offseason, she broke her leg again. This time, though, her recovery period went notably faster than the year before, and five months later, in early 2024, she was back on snow for some free skiing.
O’Brien shared her rehab time with two of her closest friends on the U.S. team, Ava Sunshine Jemison and Katie Hensien, who were also out for the season with injuries.
“It was really nice to just relate on what we were feeling as the races were happening and we weren’t there,” O’Brien said. “And then at the same time also being able to forget about ski racing with them and laugh at each other and not feel sorry for each other because we were all in it together. That helped a lot, too.”
Getting ready for racing again during 2023-24 was not a realistic option, but her early return on snow allowed O’Brien to gradually build toward the new season.
“I’m always someone who wants to do the most training runs. If I have five good runs, for me I want to see if my sixth can be faster. But this summer I really tried to take a different approach,” O’Brien said.
Training initially was more about regaining a good feeling on the skis, she added, rather than pushing for the fastest times.
Paul Kristofic, coach of the U.S. women’s team, was impressed with O’Brien’s recovery progress and positive attitude.
“What she went through was incredibly difficult. One brutal injury, and then a reinjury of the same leg, then it’s incredibly tough to miss so much racing and training.” Kristofic said.
“She’s had a great preparation period and is skiing well. She is super excited to get started again and she feels great. I’m really happy for her, because it hasn’t been easy.”
Missing a whole season has seen O’Brien drop in the GS rankings, and she will wear bib No. 28 on Saturday.
It will be a challenge working her way back up the rankings but O’Brien is convinced she can.
And if she does, a nice bonus would await at the end of the season: The World Cup finals in Sun Valley, Idaho.
“I absolutely love it. I’m excited just for all of us to share it with the whole European ski racing community. It’s just this really authentic ski town in the U.S. and it’s just culturally cool, feels very western,” she said. “They have so much passion for skiing.”
Just like O’Brien.
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Eric Willemsen on X: https://x.com/eWilmedia
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AP skiing: https://apnews.com/hub/alpine-skiing
