Resi Stiegler back from injury and lookin' good

Resi Stiegler just popped in Davanza’s in Park City, Utah — her hair up, newest Kaenon sunglasses on and a nice tan, courtesy of Maui, Hawaii.  
    Lookin’ good.
    In her hand, however, there is a sign that things haven’t been so good with America’s top alpine tech specialist. Holding an X-ray of her forearm, she points out the break and pins holding it together. After a successful start to the 2007-08 World Cup season with a fourth place in the Reiteralm slalom and eighth in the Aspen slalom, Stiegler took a horrendous fall in Lienz, Austria, in December that resulted in a broken left forearm, torn MCL and partially torn ACL and PCL. Doctors said it would be about 10 months before she could think about skiing again. It’s been eight months since the crash.
    “I had my second-best bike test ever,” she said. A couple hours before, Stiegler had just dominated a physical test at the USSA Training Center in Park City while the staff looked on. She looks good, and feels good, and much of it has to do with her self-discovery R&R break to Maui from February to May.
    “I chose to really go off the radar, and take a break,” Stiegler said. “I think a lot of people don’t get out and away from the sport when they have a chance.”
   
RESI STIEGLER just popped in Davanza’s in Park City, Utah — her hair up, newest Kaenon sunglasses on and a nice tan, courtesy of Maui, Hawaii.  
    Lookin’ good.
    In her hand, however, there is a sign that things haven’t been so good with America’s top alpine tech specialist. Holding an X-ray of her forearm, she points out the break and pins holding it together. After a successful start to the 2007-08 World Cup season with a fourth place in the Reiteralm slalom and eighth in the Aspen slalom, Stiegler took a horrendous fall in Lienz, Austria, in December that resulted in a broken left forearm, torn MCL and partially torn ACL and PCL. Doctors said it would be about 10 months before she could think about skiing again. It’s been eight months since the crash.
    “I had my second-best bike test ever,” she said. A couple hours before, Stiegler had just dominated a physical test at the USSA Training Center in Park City while the staff looked on. She looks good, and feels good, and much of it has to do with her self-discovery R&R break to Maui from February to May.
    “I chose to really go off the radar, and take a break,” Stiegler said. “I think a lot of people don’t get out and away from the sport when they have a chance.”

A rare winter off the hill
Though she didn’t ask for it, the Jackson Hole, Wyo., native took a long-needed break from a sport that has become a family tradition (father Pepi Stiegler is a three-time Olympic medalist, brother Seppi is a racer at University of Denver). Since Stiegler was 13, she hasn’t spent one winter in Jackson, and finally had a chance to spend time with friends and family during one of the best winters in recent Jackson history. Even injured, the antsy athlete couldn’t fathom sitting on the couch, so she went sit-skiing. But once she was able to run around a bit, Stiegler took off for Hawaii where she went paddle boarding, dirt biking and exploring.
    During that “mellow” time, she discovered that the break was a much-needed mental reprieve from racing. “I feel when you are on the road a lot you forget who you are,” the 22-year-old said. “Over the course of eight years, you change so much but you may not notice it as much when you are constantly doing the same things. I never really thought about it until I got a chance to take a break. … Whoever you are, when you are injured it’s like catching up with yourself.”
    Not only did her mind need a rest, but her body did, too.
    “When I talked to Lindsey [Vonn], because I was really sick when I got injured, and she said, ‘Everytime that I’ve been sick, I’ve crashed.’ And I thought, ‘Isn’t that funny.’ You’re body knows, you just have to learn about yourself,” Stiegler said.
    She added that paying attention to what her body is telling her is key to being a more successful athlete. For example, Stiegler discovered while in Maui that she is gluten intolerant, and “you just start to take care of your body a little bit more. You’re realizing that, ‘Hey, everything that I put in my body really is going to help me.’ ”

Still aiming for the top
Along with rest and food, Stiegler learned that communicating issues about fatigue and training with coaches also helps facilitate success. “It’s realizing, ‘Let’s fix this now, let’s get on this now, and it won’t be a problem later,’” she said.
    Though always up for anything crazy, “Crazy Resi” said she has matured in knowing what it takes to be the best in the world. “I love to have a lot of fun, but how much fun am I really having in the end if I’m not progressing where I want to go?” she asked. “ … I think I learned little things, how to manage my time, what makes me happy, what stresses me out and what I really want to get done.”
    Last summer, an excited Stiegler told SR that, “I want to be top 5 in slalom and top 20 in GS and be a contender in combined. … I’ve just learned that my progression [on the world stage] is building up and eventually I want to be the one who is dominating for a long time.”
    With her newfound knowledge, Stiegler is revived and ready to take on the world again. She plans on joining the team in mid August for preseason camp in New Zealand.
    “I haven’t been nervous once during my injury about being able to ski. … I know what I need to do to become the best now,” she said.

— Stiegler was a primary subject of Ski Racing's series of web videos last season titled "Down Time: The Summer Sessions." Click here for a link to Ski Racing's web video page