Olympic Snowboarder Hailey Langland On Her ACL Recovery & Off Season

Hailey Langland logs into our Zoom call from an exercise bike. She knows there’s no time to waste; the 25-year-old, who has been competing in Olympic Games since she was 17, is coming off a double whammy of injuries. First, she was in recovery for most of the last year for a torn right ACL, and then, on her first day back to practice in November, tore her left ACL. This, unfortunately, means she won’t be able to snowboard in the upcoming 2026 Winter Olympics.

“That was one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever had to make for myself,” Langland says. “But above all, from this whole process, I’ve learned my body is so, so important to me. And to continue to do the things I want to do, I had to take the step and remove myself from the Olympic running, which was obviously super hard. This is the first Olympics I’ve missed since I started competing in the Olympics.”

Langland got her start snowboarding at the age of 5, when her dad...