HIGH ACHIEVERS: Untimely crash crushes ski cross season, but not fighting spirit for Hannah Schmidt

By Martin Cleary

Injuries are a common occurrence for high-performance athletes, especially in the high-speed sport of ski cross.

And world-class racer Hannah Schmidt of Dunrobin, ON, has certainly had her fair share of inopportune medical moments.

In fact, she’s experiencing one of these unwelcome, season-ending recoveries right now, which came less than a year after her last unwelcome, season-ending recovery.

Let me explain.

Schmidt was having the season of her life in 2023-24, posting three wins as well as two third-place results and leading the World Cup overall women’s standings. But during the qualifying round for the World Cup race in Bakuriani, Georgia, she suffered ankle and heel fractures in her right foot.

Her season was finished as racing was replaced by rest, recovery and plenty of physiotherapy. She was fourth overall in 2024-25.

Seven races into the 2024-25 World Cup season, she rebounded remarkably well after nine months of recovery with one victory and two third-place finishes, which left her fourth overall in the point standings.

Her last medal from the Jan. 17 race in Reiteralm, Austria, might have been her weirdest bronze-medal experience. Schmidt didn’t finish the Big Final, but was slightly ahead of Canadian/Mont-Tremblant teammate Brittany Phelan in third place at the time of their crash. Race officials awarded her the bronze based on her better qualifying time from the previous day.

Instead of walking to the podium for her medal, she was in the back of an ambulance for a 10-minute drive to a hospital in Schladming.

Schmidt, who also has dealt with wrist and thumb injuries in her ski cross past, flew home to Calgary more than two weeks ago for season-ending surgery to repair a fractured and displaced tibia plateau on her right leg. She had the same injury in 2019, but it didn’t need surgery because the bone wasn’t displaced.

“It happens in our sport. It’s part of the sport,” Schmidt highlighted during a phone interview on the day she was awarded her third ski cross athlete-of-the-year prize at the Ottawa Sports Awards dinner.

“It’s awesome. I’m super honoured,” Schmidt said of the award. “It’s exciting to represent Ottawa on the international stage.”

Sprint canoe-kayak winner Brianna Hennessy of the Ottawa River Canoe Club accepted the award for Schmidt, whose parents L.A. and Bevin founded and operate the club.

Schmidt transitioned seven years ago this month from racing against the clock as an alpine skier to racing against three opponents down challenging courses in ski cross.

A day after winning her first World Cup of the season on Jan. 16 and the fourth of her career, Schmidt worked her way through the heats and qualified for her second straight Big Final in Reiteralm. About halfway through the race, Schmidt and Phelan came a little too close.

“We’re very competitive, but we look out for each other, too,” Schmidt noted. “We were pushing each other and I was slightly ahead. I felt her close to me and I was trying to block her next turn. Then our skis crossed. I did the splits. I wasn’t aware that I could do the splits … I did a nice tuck and roll to protect myself.”

In that moment of chaos, Schmidt fractured and displaced her tibia plateau.

Phelan had the wind knocked out of her for about 30 seconds before she went to assist Schmidt on the course. She stayed with a grateful Schmidt until the arrival of the medical staff and her teammate was taken off the course.

“It’s definitely tough,” Schmidt, who has dropped to seventh from fourth in the World Cup standings, said about her third season-ending injury. “I knew I have been close (in races). I was skiing fast all season with multiple podiums and a win. I was skiing strong. It’s a bittersweet end.”

Competing in her sixth World Cup season, Schmidt was a model of consistency and accomplishment this season. In her 20 races, including heats, Small Finals (to determine fifth through eighth) and Big Finals (top four), she posted seven firsts, five second-place results and six thirds.

Besides her victory and third-place finishes at Reiteralm, Schmidt picked up her first medal this season, a bronze, in Arosa, Switzerland. Along with her three Big Final appearances, she also raced in three Small Finals – winning the race in Innichen, Italy, to place fifth overall as well as an eighth and a fifth in Val Thorens, France.

Schmidt understands injuries are part of the business, just like they were when she was an alpine skier and broke her right leg tibia and fibula during a summer training camp in Chile.

“I try to take the positive out of it,” said Schmidt, whose recovery is going well and has allowed her to do some low-resistance bike work to help her regain her mobility. “I was having an amazing season up until the crash.”

Schmidt had no real expectations entering this season, after recovering from her 2024 foot injury. But when she won the bronze medal in her third race back this season in Arosa, her spirits and confidence were lifted, putting her back in her charging and aggressive skiing mode.

All her physio and rehabilitation work in 2024 proved and reassured her she could come back and be stronger this season. She will carry that attitude into the 2025-26 season, which also is an Olympic year. Schmidt was seventh at the 2022 Beijing Winter Games.

“Everything is good,” said Schmidt, who was well looked after by her mother over the past two weeks in Calgary. “I saw the surgeon on Tuesday and had the staples taken out. Everything is healing well. It’s very positive two weeks out. I’m moving forward.

“I’m far from done.”