Rell Harwood Made Her Olympic Debut Without an ACL. She's Unstoppable.
"In no way, shape, or form have I thought, oh, I wanna be done now. I just keep pushing."
That's Rell Harwood — 24 years old, Park City native, three-time X Games medalist, and owner of what might be the most punishing injury resume in freestyle skiing. Three ACL tears. A broken collarbone. Two Olympics bookended by surgeries. And somehow, every time, she comes back.
"The real reason I keep coming back is just the love for the sport. I wanna come back to skiing to just ski. I find it incredibly fun. It's something I do with my friends. I love competing…that aspect really fires me up. I can push through anything."
Built in Park City
Harwood has been skiing since she was three, when her parents enrolled her in the Park City Ski and Snowboard Club. She resisted traditional racing early on, but at nine, she discovered freestyle, and something clicked.
"Skiing is just a huge part of my life," she said. "It feels so natural. If I didn't have it, what else would I do, you know?"
She's been answering that question in competition ever since: three X Games podiums, two World Cup bronze medals during the 2024-25 season, a top-five overall ranking on the FIS World Cup circuit. But what makes Harwood's story something else entirely is everything that kept trying to stand between her and it.
Her first ACL tear came in September 2021 after a switch misty 900 in Italy. She missed the entire 2021-22 season and, with it, any shot at the Beijing Olympics. Nine months of rehab, then a broken collarbone in 2023. Then, in March 2025, her left ACL went.
Less than a year out from Milano Cortina, she started the rehab anyway — got back to her first competition, qualified for finals, and tore the other one in finals.
"My story is definitely a crazy one," she said with high spirits.
Always Coming Back
"At the point when I tore my other ACL so close to the Games, I honestly lost hope," she said, "There was no time for surgery, and even beyond the Olympics, I was devastated to not be able to ski. I genuinely love this sport more than anything, and it completely broke my heart."
Before she fully gave up, her surgeon gave her an option most people wouldn't take: try skiing without the ACL. With guidance from her medical team, she decided to go for it.
Although, with a newfound level of uncertainty about what her body was capable of, fear entered the picture.
"I didn't know what I could do, what was possible," she said. "It was kind of like just trying everything for the first time again. I didn't know if my knee was gonna cave, if I was gonna be able to do this trick. That's really what made it scary."
From December until the Games, she gave it everything she had.
You Made It
The moment Harwood keeps coming back to when she thinks about the Games was the second they arrived in Milan.
"Right off the plane, they took us to the Team USA headquarters. We walked up through these crazy stairs and there's a sign that says you made it. You get to the top and everyone's clapping. They made this video compilation of all our friends and family saying congratulations. I was like…this is the coolest thing I've ever experienced."
You made it. For Harwood, it wasn't just a welcome. It was a statement of fact that four years, three injuries, and more setbacks than most athletes ever see had been trying to prevent.
"It's been a lot of ups and downs," she said, "Like, will I even make it here? So to just go in and put down some of my hardest tricks feels really amazing."
The Bottom Line
Three ACLs, a broken collarbone, an Olympic debut. If there's wisdom buried in all of it, Harwood keeps it simple.
"Don't get so wrapped up in the competition results, the sponsors, all of that. Just really enjoy it. Have fun. Try new things. And maybe go try some crazy stuff while your limbs are still super flexible."
ABOUT THIS SERIES
I’m Amy Wotovich and I am on a mission to interview 100% of Team USA's 2026 Olympic and Paralympic athletes to create the most comprehensive mindset record of a single Games cycle. What do elite competitors actually believe about pressure, identity, failure, and joy? Rell Harwood is one of hundreds of athletes sharing their unfiltered answers. Follow the journey!
