Winter Olympics 2026: How do extreme skiers overcome fear of serious injury?
Zoe’s sister Izzy won a bronze medal in skiing in Pyeongchang in 2018.
He brought Britain its first skiing medal at the Winter Olympics, 16 years after Alain Baxter. He lost his bronze medal in the slalom When he failed a drug test after using an over-the-counter nasal decongestant that he believed was authorized.
Eight years ago, Zoe was watching from the stands in South Korea with her family and her sister’s achievements encouraged her to pursue her own ski career.
“It was important to work with a sports psychologist; when I was younger I felt more intense fear, which hindered my performance,” says Atkin.
“I’m still quite young, but there was a lot of expectation inside and things I wanted to achieve.”
He enters the Games as the reigning world champion and has finished on the podium at every World Cup this season, including a win at Copper Mountain and a gold medal at the X Games.
“Now that I’ve won something, of course I shouldn’t be afraid and I should have confidence in myself, right?” he says.
“But no matter how established you are, there’s always a comfort zone you have to push to move forward. It’s always a constant progression, a journey I’ve now more fully embraced.”
Atkin was lucky to avoid serious injury, unlike her sister, who broke her pelvis just before the 2022 Winter Olympics and has since retired from competitive skiing.
GB teammate Kirsty Muir has also had her share of injuries.
The 21-year-old competes ski slope style and in big air. He rides the rails and performs tricks on big ramps.
He knows all too well the horror of serious injuries in the line of duty.
A scan in December 2023 revealed that repeated blows to his knee had caused a ruptured cruciate ligament, ruling him out for a year.
Muir, who has “never skied this long in my life”, says he is fit and shooting for Milan-Cortina, but admits the road back has been difficult.
“The sport is constantly evolving, so it was difficult to have that much free time,” Muir told BBC Sport.
Muir won World Cup events in ski slopestyle and big air this season and also won at the X Games, but he’s no stranger to the occasional hard landing.
The key to overcoming this fear, he says, is to accept that these things will happen.
“The injury wasn’t the scariest for me because it didn’t happen at a particular moment,” he says. “It mostly happens when things go wrong that are beyond your control.
“The skis come off my feet, or when I’m about to jump, my glasses come into my eyes and I fly in the air without the skis on my feet. It’s a strange feeling.
“We’re good at adapting to situations, we don’t think about it until it happens. There’s no point in worrying; be prepared, then adapt.”
