PORTLAND, Ore. (NEXSTAR) — Jackie Wiles is an alpine skier. She’s used to going downhill fast.
Her career has gone uphill—from the time she was young, growing up in Portland, Oregon, to the moment she reached her first Olympics.
She’s reached the pinnacle, even if that journey did come with some setbacks.
Most weekday mornings, you’ll find Jackie Wiles at the gym. She’s there for about two hours focused on each one of her workouts.
The encouragement—and the adjustments—come from fitness trainer Troy Harvey. He knows Jackie Wiles as well as anyone. He’s been her trainer for the past 16 years. That’s half her life.
“I think the most impressive thing about Jackie is there’s not a day that she’s not in pain. There’s not a day where she’s not fighting the urge to give in,” Harvey said.
There was a time before that. A time when she was still an elite athlete, but younger.
In 2014 at the age of 21, Jackie Wiles was on the national team for the first time and qualified for her first Olympics—in Sochi, Russia.
“I was just bright-eyed and excited taking it all in. It was a lot of new experiences. I had only been on the team competing in World Cup that year, and I scored my first World Cup points a couple weeks right before the Games. I didn’t even know I was going until right before that moment,” she said.
It was a moment she’d been working toward since she was 2 years old. That’s when she started skiing. She started racing at the age of 5.
“I think I gravitated towards skiing because it’s a sport unlike any other. The feelings that you can create are so unique. You are out there going as fast as you are willing to commit to,” Wiles said.
On Feb. 3, 2018, Jackie Wiles was going fast in Germany at a World Cup race. That’s when she fell hard.
She’d had injuries in her career—but not like this. Multiple torn knee ligaments, a broken fibula and perennial nerve damage.
And the timing couldn’t have been worse. It was just days before she was about to leave for her second Olympics.
“It was emotionally, I think, more traumatizing than I realized. Having to fly home and the whole team was flying to South Korea for the Olympics. And then watching from home and realizing how long my journey back would actually be,” she said.
David Wiles, Jackie’s father, was watching the race on television at 2 a.m.
“And I see this man talk over her and he picks up this phone, he’s talking on a cell phone,” said David. “And then my cell phone rings. And he just said, ‘I’m Doctor So and So, I’m with the ski team, and I’m here with your daughter. And she wanted me to let you know, she’s okay.’”
You can still see the scars seven years later. Jackie Wiles doesn’t hide them. She didn’t know it at the time, but she’d need three surgeries in five months.
“Honestly, I never had a thought of wanting to give up. I knew that if I just kept working hard, I could get back to where I wanted,” she said.
Few people can share Wiles’ perspective quite like Lindsey Vonn—the most successful female alpine skier in history.
For a long time, she’s been there for Jackie Wiles.
“Entering my second year, she realized that I wasn’t fully funded and had to pay to be on the team. And so she really helped me out, took me under her wing. Made me an ambassador for her foundation. And I put her logo on my helmet. Yeah, she really became a mentor and over the years now a good friend,” Wiles said.
Wiles wanted to go fast again. During her recovery, she discovered another way to go fast.
“I took a moment to realize I can only ski race for so much longer. I realized I need to find something else, a career that would excite me,” Wiles said.
It was then that Wiles took up flying. She’s logged about 200 hours in the air.
“I love flying on the side because it gives me a different outlet from skiing,” she said “The feeling of just being up there and seeing the world below from a different viewpoint, I think, is incredible. You can really see a different perspective.”
Wiles is as focused as an athlete can be. Right now she’s working toward the upcoming Olympics in Italy. After that, even she doesn’t know what’s next.