Australian Madi Hoffman is rebounding following her pre-Olympic injury

When Madison Hoffman is told to ski three training laps, she’ll do 10. When she has homework due next week, she’ll do it this afternoon. After a demanding morning workout with her team, she’ll follow it up with afternoon Pilates and/or CrossFit. The 22-year-old tackles every task with a drive unmatched by most college athletes. As a result, she’s launching into this week’s NCAA 2023 Skiing Championships stronger than she’s ever been.

“She’s coming into finals arguably the hottest she’s ever been, the best I’ve ever seen her ski,” says University of Utah Head Alpine Coach JJ Johnson. “How she approaches races, both her first and second runs – her position is now more powerful than ever. She’s skiing really, really fast right now.”

From Australia to Utah

Growing up on the northern beaches of Sydney, Australia, Hoffman learned to ski at a young age. After her family moved to Singapore when she was young, she and her brothers missed a lot of school to ski and compete, so the family relocated to Park City, Utah, when Hoffman started high school.

“I remember trying to race my dad or brothers down the hill. I always liked to go fast,” Hoffman says. “I played soccer and swam and all of that, but skiing was always really fun. I liked the adrenaline, the constant improvement. I fell in love with trying to get better.”

Hoffman joined Rowmark Ski Academy, graduating in 2018, after which she began racing independently for the now-disbanded Team X. During the 2018-19 season, she had started notching top 10s on the Nor-Am tech circuit. She raced giant slalom in her first Junior World Ski Championships in Italy in February 2019 when a crash ruptured the patella tendon in her right knee. It sidelined her for nine months.

Resilience and then some, part 1

The hard-charging Australian bounced back immediately. In one of her first races after returning to snow, she notched her top Nor-Am score at the time, finishing fourth (missing the podium by .04 seconds) in a GS in Nakiska, Canada, in December 2019. One after another, she landed her best career results to date. She took a gap year, then started at the University of Utah in January 2021.

“I didn’t know if I wanted to go to school yet,” she says. “I wasn’t ready. Then, during that COVID year, I wanted the mental stimulation. I really enjoyed being a part of the team, being a part of something bigger than myself. I really appreciated having schoolwork to do. It helped put to ease that voice inside my head that’s like, what are you going to do once skiing is over?”

She took second in the University GS race in Aspen, Colo., in January 2021 and won a university slalom race at Eldora Mountain a few days later. By February 2021, she scored points in the Europa Cup and finished 14^th in the Junior Worlds GS race that March. She landed on the podium in the 2021 National Championships slalom, finishing second behind World Cup veteran Resi Stiegler.

Resilience and then some, Part 2

Last season began with Hoffman’s first World Cup start in Soelden. Although she DNFed, she worked her way up the ranks in Nor-Am and university races. She landed on a handful of university podiums and qualified to compete for Australia in the 2022 Beijing Olympics. Then, her season once again came to a grinding halt. She tore the ACL in her left knee competing in the FIS University GS in Park City last January.

“It was an interesting time in my life,” she says. “My initial reaction was [to be] heartbroken. I felt a little relief, too. Not relief of getting hurt, but that whole season felt so stressful leading  into the Olympics and trying not to get Covid when everyone around me was getting Covid. There were so many unknowns. As bummed as I was sitting there again like, oh my gosh, I’m missing out, I knew I could do it. Pretty quickly, I was like, how do we adapt to this reality?”

Blazing beyond a comeback

Hoffman went above and beyond during her recovery. She was back in the gates in December, fighting to measure up to her teammates. It didn’t take long. In mid-January, she landed a pair of sixth places in the World University Games GS and slalom at Whiteface Mountain. Since the end of January, she has won or finished second in every university race she’s started. This February, she also began racking up the best Nor-Am results of her life, culminating with her first Nor-Am podiums, finishing second in back-to-back slaloms in Osler Bluff, Canada, last week and landing fourth in Monday’s Nor-Am GS in Stratton.

“Coming off these Nor-Ams, I definitely feel good. I’m proud of myself for taking the time to do recovery properly and not rush things,” she says. “I said, okay, I’m just going to keep showing up every day and give it the best I can.”

Hoffman says she has butterflies going into the NCAA Finals this week. However, she’s riding a high from her Nor-Am success, which she names as her career highlight so far.

“Finishing second in both of those Nor-Ams up in Osler was really cool, especially considering everything that has gone down the last couple of years,” she says. “It was a nice reminder that you can figure out everything you want in life.  I definitely feel like now I’m skiing the best I’ve ever skied, I guess, in my career.”

‘The sky is the limit’

Hoffman plans to graduate in the spring of 2024 and to continue skiing after college.

“If given the opportunity, I definitely want to represent Australia at the next Olympics. Ultimately, I want to be a consistent World Cup skier. At least I want to give it a crack, put in the effort, try really hard to see if that works out.”

Judging by her trajectory this season, she has what it takes.

“She’s a true pro in every way. A lot of that is her work ethic and drive,” Johnson says. “We joke that sometimes we have to work hard to get her to take a break here and there. Coming back from injury, she was off with her coaches to her return to snow in November. The plan was three or four runs to get back. She’s like, ‘I took ten runs.’ Our whole team doesn’t even do that. She’s also a good teammate. She’s gracious and helpful with the resources she has. I think the sky is the limit in the way she’s come back, especially in the last month and a half. I think we’ll see her compete at the top level in the next year.”