Just when things were going better than ever, World Cup snowboarder Callan Chythlook-Sifsof of Alaska hit rock bottom.
Literally.
The 22-year-old Olympian suffered a season-ending knee injury Thursday while freeriding in Utah, landing awkwardly on a rock at the bottom of a cliff.
“I was jumping a cliff and there was a rock underneath the snowpack that was hidden,” Chythlook-Sifsof told me.
She hurt the same right knee that sidelined her in 2008.
“It’s not as bad as last time,” she said.
Chythlook-Sifsof, of Girdwood by way of Dillingham, bounced back to compete at the 2010 Olympics. So she’s been down this recovery road before.
“It’s a huge bummer, but in snowboarding you can expect to get injured,” she said. “It’s pretty common.”
The biggest bummer is that Chythlook-Sifsof is currently the eighth-ranked boardercross rider on the World Cup circuit and performing better than ever.