SPEAKING

It started in a van in Europe — a €2,000 budget, breakdowns, sleeping on floors, days without a shower. From there I won three national championships and clawed my way up to World Cup level, finishing 21st at Val di Sole in 2017, my best-ever World Cup result.

Then it fell apart. In 2018 I went through a breakup, lost all my sponsorship, and spent my savings just to keep racing. Mid-season I crashed and broke my femur and hip — eleven months out, more than five before I could put weight on my leg. Three months after coming back, a mechanical failure sent me down again: the other hip, dislocated and broken.

That was rock bottom. I sold everything and didn't want to see a bike. I was fighting debilitating nerve pain, up five times a night with my leg in ice water. Then came a melanoma diagnosis and another surgery — which tipped me into years of severe anxiety, insomnia, and panic attacks that took medication and hundreds of hours of counselling to work through.

I rebuilt anyway. I moved from South Africa to Germany, started a new life, found new sponsorship, and made the World Champs team again in 2022 — then dislocated my shoulder at the race. So I did a double surgery: shoulder repair and a full hip replacement. Surgery number nine.

In early 2024, pain-free for the first time in years, I won the South African National Championship again — eight years after my last one. It was the goal I'd fought everything for. It was the best day of my career. And I chose that moment to retire from full-time racing on my own terms.