Photo: Bella Wright. GEPA pictures.

Springing from injury to the Olympics and her best ever World Cup result, things look promising for the Utah native

Last season, Isabella Wright pretty much went straight off crutches to compete in her first Olympics. A couple of weeks later, she notched the best World Cup result of her career. With comparatively fewer mishaps to overcome and considerably more preseason days on snow, she’s charging into this season brimming with confidence, more ready to race than ever before.

“The Olympics were a big moment for me,” says the 25-year-old Utah native. “Knowing I could perform under tough circumstances with so little prep propelled me to have more confidence on the World Cup. It was such a great feeling.”

Growing up ski racing at Snowbird, then clinching the NorAm Super G title in 2019, Wright began competing on the World Cup in 2019. She joined the U.S. Ski Team in 2021. She quickly proved her worth at the top tier of the sport, notching solid points in numerous World Cup races her first season with the U.S. Team. She was just returning to on-snow training for last fall in Zermatt and eager to pick up where she’d left off. However, instead of spending several days training on the glacier, she ended up in the hospital, undergoing emergency gallbladder surgery. 

Down for a few weeks but bouncing back more quickly than expected, she trained at Copper last November under the tutelage of Lindsey Vonn. She competed at Lake Louise (her top result was 27^th in downhill) and was returning to her previous season’s rhythm. Then, during the next set of races in St. Moritz, she crashed through a gate in the super G, breaking the talus bone in her right ankle.

Against the odds

“I was told I wouldn’t ski until March. I was told the Olympics were a no-go, not a chance,” she recalls. “Honestly, I’m a quick healer. I was patient, but not too patient. Luck was also on my side because I didn’t have to have surgery.”

Instructed to wear a boot, keep weight off her leg and use crutches for six weeks, Wright did everything she could to stay fit.

“There were moments in the gym where I couldn’t do anything. There were moments I would give up,” she says. “I had a ton of CT scans to see how it was healing. I was healing immensely faster than expected. Pushing every day in hopes the Olympics would happen was a game changer. It was honestly trying to be as gritty as I could to try to make it happen,” she says.

She made it happen. Last January, a few days after she was allowed to put weight on her leg, Wright gingerly ventured onto her skis.

“I had about two and a half weeks return to snow before the Olympics. My first day in full gates was in Beijing,” she says.

Wright said she knew she was holding back in the Olympic Super-G, but still ended up 21^st. When the World Cup recommenced in Crans-Montana after the Olympics, she shot to a 10th-place finish in the downhill. Then she handily won two Nor-Am downhill races at Sugarloaf to close out her season.

“I left the Olympics feeling grateful but always wanting more. I would have loved not to have my ankle break in December and to perform better. The moral of the story was to see how much I could persevere through it,” she says.

Bolstered preparation

Following such a display of perseverance, the hurdles Wright has faced this season have felt minimal. She spent her summer in California surfing and dryland training. She crashed during training in Chile, re-aggravating her ankle, but not to the point that it sidelined her from training.

Like all World Cup speed skiers, she’s bummed that the opening races of the season, scheduled for Zermatt in early November, were canceled due to lack of snow. She made the most of the extra break by spending time with her friends and family near Salt Lake City and cooking and painting. She’s thrilled to spend more time on snow than ever before during the pre-season and is anxious to put her speed to the test.

“It’s been a really good prep period. I’m grateful we got to go back to South America. It makes a really big difference in our prep. We were skiing 90-second super Gs and downhill there. You can’t get that training anywhere except at Copper. Now at Copper, I’m excited to see how it all plays out. I’m excited to kick out of the start again.”

The old normal

Having launched her World Cup career just before the Covid-19 pandemic struck, Wright is very much looking forward to experiencing a return to some semblance of normal.

“I’m looking forward to being in Europe for a whole season again, enjoying the crazy white circus,” she says. “Crowds are going to be back. I’m excited to be around more people and have that energy again; the old normal.”

Knowing that she can finish in the top 10, especially following a major injury, provides a boost that she plans to build upon this season.

“I want to consistently be the competitor I strive to be, chase that top step on the World Cup podium,” she says. “I’m still young on the World Cup. In some ways, I feel like a little kid in a candy store. I want to build off every result. I’ve had a career best World Cup season. You have one result, one moment from a previous World Cup season, and that can change your mindset. I’m trying to emulate and better that.”