Steven Nyman Suffers Achilles Tendon Injury
Aug 09, 2020·Alpine Skiing
Olympian, Land Rover ambassador, and "King of the Saslong," Steven Nyman, suffered a right Achilles tendon injury at a recent on-snow camp at Official Training Site Timberline Resort & Ski Area. Steven, a 38-year-old veteran of the men's speed team and the leader of the pack/mentor to fellow teammates, has dealt with his fair share of injuries, including his left Achilles tendon in November of 2011.
In 2016, Nyman did something no other American Downhiller has done—podiuming four races in a row, starting with the PyeongChang Olympic test event in Jeongseon (third) and then Chamonix (second), Kvitfjell (third), and St. Moritz (second). In 2017, Steven started the season off strong with a third-place finish in Val Gardena then grabbing a top 10 in Kitzbuehel. The fourth race of the season in Garmisch, Nyman was having the fastest run of the day until he crashed off a jump badly injuring his knee.
He rehabbed all summer at the U.S. Ski Team's Center of Excellence and was ready for the 2018 Games in PeyongChang, where he medaled at the test event and felt "at one with the course", though his 2018 Olympic dreams were cut short when he injured his other knee—a clean ACL tear—almost to the day of his injury just one year prior (364 days) on the infamous, bumpy, dark Garmisch Kandahar track.
Despite another devastating setback, Steven worked his way back once again, and during the 2018-19 season ended the season ranked 16th in downhill, with three top-10 finishes, including a fifth place (less than one tenth of a second off the podium) at his favorite track in Val Gardena, Italy just .03 seconds behind his teammate and mentee Bryce Bennett, and .04 seconds ahead of teammate Travis Ganong. During the 2020 season, Steven finished ranked 20th in downhill and 26th in super-G—his best career super-G rank since 2007, when he was ranked 25th.
If anyone can do come back stronger, it's Steven Nyman...so make sure to send those positive #BelieveInSteven vibes his way, as he's stoked for the upcoming season, which will feature the FIS Ski World Championships in his favorite region of Italy—the Dolomites at Cortina d'Ampezzo.
Steven announced his injury in an Instagram post on Thursday.
Release Courtesy of U.S. Ski Team
FIS wishes Steven Nyman a speedy recovery and hopes to see him back on the snow soon!
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