Sofia Goggia Recounts Her Nightmare: The Champion’s Candid Confession
Sofia Goggia chose Friday’s FISI Media Day in Milan to share her first-hand account of the difficult past few weeks she has endured, beginning with the illness she suffered in Ushuaia a month ago. The champion from Bergamo, fresh off a season highlighted by an Olympic bronze medal in downhill and her victory in the Super-G World Cup, is currently recovering from a dual infection that, among other things, affected her nervous system.
The Italian skier explained how this situation has been very different from the numerous injuries she has faced in the past: “Let’s just say that throughout my career I’ve had to practice the art of patience quite a few times, but this situation I find myself in is a bit unique—different from the ones I’ve had to deal with due to my many injuries. In this case, however, even all my willpower isn’t enough to rush things—there’s a biological healing process that takes time.”
Goggia described the consequences of the infection in detail, focusing especially on the neurological symptoms that forced her to slow down: “When I found myself dealing with this infection, which caused neurological symptoms, it was definitely different from the usual—even a little more delicate. It’s perhaps the first time I’ve really thought: ‘First I have to get back to 100 percent’; I have to regain my mental clarity and coordination, and I have to be able to move properly.”
The episodes recalled by the Italian athlete were particularly telling, illustrating just how much the problem was affecting her daily life. “In Ushuaia, I realized I could no longer walk down stairs. I was shaking so much; it was as if I felt completely uncoordinated. On top of that, I had excruciating pain even just from turning over in bed at night: it debilitated me; it was quite debilitating.”
Despite the experience she’s gained over the years in recovering from even very serious setbacks, this time the priority was different. “My goal now is to recover, above all, neurologically. Then, once I’m feeling well, I know the path ahead because I’ve built my career by patching things up here and there after injuries many times. But to do all that, I first need to be in good neurological shape.”
Later in her remarks, Goggia admitted that what worried her most wasn’t the potential impact on her career, but rather the physical pain she experienced during her illness: “I’ve never complained in my career. But when I felt this pain, it was as if my bones were crumbling. I couldn’t put any weight on my body. The pain worried me more than anything else.”
It was only later that the champion realized something wasn’t working as it should: “Once I came back, I realized that something wasn’t right from another perspective as well. I was speaking more slowly; I had to enunciate my sentences differently, and I was shaking a lot. I was extremely worried, especially because of the pain I was experiencing.”
Sofia Goggia’s words attest to the harshness of a battle very different from those she has fought so far on skis. Before thinking about competitions, Sofia Goggia admitted that her current priority is simple to state but complex to achieve: getting back to feeling well in her daily life before putting her skis back on.
