BEIJING, China — Alpine skier Jackie Wiles loves the rush that comes with going 70-80 miles an hour.
“Feeling the wind in your face, and you're the one in control that can push the speed," said Wiles. "I think it's a unique experience that really entices us skiers to want to be speeds skiers."
Wiles made her first Olympic team in 2014.
"Sochi was incredible for me,” recalled Wiles. “It was my first year on the national team. I was 21 and I was just excited to be on tour with the girls.”
In 2017, she earned her first World Cup downhill podium. In 2018 she earned another World Cup podium and a chance at her second Olympics.
Wiles was at the top of her game and was considered a contender to medal in South Korea. But just days before the Winter Games, Wiles crashed out at the World Cup event in Germany.
Wiles tore her MCL, ACL and broke her leg. Her Olympic dreams were crushed.
"I was giving it my all, trying to prepare for the Olympics,” said Wiles. “I just come off a podium and was trying to keep that momentum going and try to kind of keep the race energy intensity up there. You know, I made a tactical error, and I paid for it now for the past three years in a painful way.”
While the games went on in South Korea, Wiles was back in Portland rehabbing. She had three surgeries in five months.
"It's been a brutal couple of years,” said Wiles. “But I think if I didn't love it, then I wouldn't keep pushing and fighting.”
Wiles said she's matured and grown from the crash. She's excited to make a mark at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.
“A trip to Beijing would mean everything,” said Wiles. “I think it would prove all the hard work of this, the last four years of what I went through, and then the rehabbing and multiple injuries now paid off. I think it would just kind of be the full circle of, OK, like that race took me out, but I was able to persevere and, and work my butt off to get back up, and I want to go and compete and have a shot at a medal not just goes a celebratory Olympics. So, for me, I want to go and make an impact.”