Imagine the life of a professional skier. Lots of women throwing themselves at you? Champagne and caviar? First class air tickets? Not likely, think again. Think perhaps of a hospital room or the dull lights of a physiotherapist’s office as you go through six months of painful rehab just so it doesn’t hurt like hell just to drop your strides to take a leak.
Australian champion slalom and giant slalom skier Jono Brauer has seen it all. Through 15 years of ski competition he’s had the kinds of injuries that make you feel sick just hearing them. How’s this for starters: “I’ve had an athroscope on my right ankle to shave down a bone calcification, I’ve broken the tallus bone in my right foot, I’ve had three ligaments in both ankles torn or snapped, tore an MCL in my left knee, snapped a PCL,” he said. “I got my right knee reconstructed after snapping my ACL, I had patella tendonitis which lead to a patella tendon debridement, that was a big operation.”
Through it all, incredibly, Brauer has survived long enough to claim his crown as a seven-time Australia/ New Zealand slalom ski champion. He’s also had some seriously good results overseas, including two first places in a Europa Cup Slalom event and the tough North American Cup Slalom. “I’d come back from a knee reconstruction the previous winter and I went into that race with a ‘kill ‘em all’ attitude. When I won it I was so overcome with emotion, I was stoked," Brauer said.
It’s this kind of dedication to the cause that’s made Brauer Australia’s top slalom and giant slalom skier, and one of the world’s best. “When I’m in the gym and on the mountain I usually do a half-half Red Bull and water mix and sip it over a length of time so I get a constant pep through my sessions,” Brauer said. “And I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a fan of the old Vodka Red Bulls and jager bombs that keep my spirits up at the worst of times.”
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