Stiegler moving along familiar injury road

Everybody loves a comeback. That is, everybody but U.S. Alpine Ski Team tech specialist Resi Stiegler, who has been coming back from injuries for the past three seasons and is anxious to arrive already.

“This is so tough because it’s my fourth injury in a row,” said Stiegler who was taken out of last year’s Olympic season when she fell while training in November, fracturing her femur and tibia plateau. “I haven’t raced a whole season in three years. I’ve gotten good blocks of skiing in but not a complete season, and so to have another injury to begin with is super tough.”

Stiegler, who has battled back to skiing after breaking her arm, tearing ligaments in her knee and breaking her foot during the last three year, calls her latest injury the hardest yet.

“The most difficult thing was that I couldn’t walk for the majority of the time, I got off crutches at the beginning of March,” said Stiegler. “We thought, at first, that I could be walking in eight weeks and that was long to begin with, but it ended up taking 14 weeks. Breaking your femur is a whole different thing, it’s not like blowing your knee. You’re just there thinking, “I hope I can ski in a year.”

Though she couldn’t compete, Stiegler, an Olympian at the Torino Games, made the trip to Vancouver to support her teammates and fill up on some Olympic spirit.

“It was cool but it’s not that fun when you’re not ski racing and you’re on crutches and can’t get around too well,” she said. “I wanted to go see a bunch of events but I was exhausted at the end of the day, just getting around takes a big toll on you.”

Since her injury, the 24-year-old has spent her time resting and rehabbing in sunny Maui, Hawaii.

“Most of my rehab was done through Pilates techniques using body weight, trying to even out the strength in my legs because my left side is so underdeveloped compared to my right side,” said Stiegler. “I could do water sports, then I started hiking and road biking as much as I could.

The Jackson Hole, Wyoming native will return to the famed Steadman Hawkins Clinic in Vail, Colo. next week for yet another surgery. This time to remove some of the hardware she acquired after her fall. “Where the screws are is kind of painful so that’s why we decided to get them out and hopefully that works and I can start training more and get stronger,” she said.

Stiegler, who recently returned home to Jackson Hole, plans to spend the summer between training in the mountains of Wyoming and making frequent trips to the U.S. Ski Team’s headquarters in Park City, Utah for workouts with teammates and physical therapists.
 
“Right now I’m just looking forward to having this surgery and seeing how I feel,” said the Jackson Hole Ski Club product. “I’m really good once I get on snow, I’ve always been super capable of getting my technique back pretty fast. So I feel like that is less of a concern. Once I feel ready to get on snow I’m going to want to ski everyday all day, but for now I just want to get stronger because I know that’s the most important thing.”

Of course, getting back on snow is on the top Stiegler’s to do list.

“I asked the doctors if New Zealand (training camp in early August) would be a possibility and I think they’ll let me decide that,” she said. “If I train as hard as I want to and try to do that and get strong in a month and a half after my surgery, then we can see but sometimes you need more time in the gym and I might have to push it back.”

Stiegler wasn’t alone on the rehab trail this season as fellow former Park City Ski Team member TJ Lanning, another veteran of the injury cycle, joined Stiegler at the clinic after dislocating his knee and fracturing his neck in a race only nine days after her fall.

“He’s inspiring because every time he comes back he’s fast and I feel like I can do it,” Stiegler said. “After my wreck I was just like “how can this happen to me, what’s wrong with me?” I think that you realize that there are plenty of other athletes who have had lots of injuries and it gives you the confidence that you can do it also.”

There is no doubt in Stiegler’s mind that she belongs back on the World Cup tour with her teammates, bringing home the hardware.

“I think I just miss being on the road and being with my team. When it comes down to it I love racing and that’s what I want to be doing. I’m going to be back on the NorAm and Europa Cup tours just trying to get races under my belt and that’s what I’m going to love,” said Stiegler who admitted to feeling the itch to add some more trophies to her collection. “I was spring cleaning my house and I felt like I needed a few more.”

Click here to watch a video about Stiegler’s recovery.

By Eric Williams