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Cool Wakushima was in mid-air when she knew she was in trouble.
In January, the Winter Olympian was training on the slopes of Copper Mountain in Colorado when she suffered the worst injury of her promising career.
The 22-year-old from Wānaka said the feeling of being out of control was not good.
"The jumps were pretty on and off with the weather throughout the week, so I wasn’t super confident," Wakushima said.
"And then it just happened. I knew straight away that I was off, and I was like, ‘oh no’ in the air."
As she took off, Wakushima knew she was a bit slow in her rotation and undershot the jump.
"Usually, I can get away with it by just accepting the fall, but this time I freaked out a little bit."
She came crashing down on the snow with all the force through the front of her right leg.
Hoping to shrug it off, it turned out she had ruptured her anterior cruciate ligament.
"When you’re snowboarding, you’re just full of adrenaline," she said.
"You don't actually realise that you've hurt yourself until you’ve calmed down."
Wakushima denied her pain and told herself that "it’ll all be sweet".
The following day, she realised all was not sweet after seeing an MRI scan.
She required reconstructive surgery and was told she would be out for nine to 12 months.
"That news was hard to take. It hit me that I had done a major injury, and it was going to take a long time to recover."
The ACL injury completed a tough run of setbacks for Wakushima in recent times.
Since the Beijing Winter Olympics, where she injured her coccyx, she has broken her sternum and her eye socket.
Wakushima flew home to New Zealand for her ACL surgery and has been working on a structured rehabilitation programme to get back on snow.
In 2023, ACC accepted more than 13,000 snow sports-related injuries, and it has spent more than $160million over the past five years helping people recover from accidents on the slopes.
The irony is not lost on Wakushima.
She and fellow Otago winter star Nico Porteous are supporting ACC and the Ski Area Association of New Zealand in a campaign to stay safe on the slopes.
"Being injured sucks," Wakushima said.
"So, it is much better to prevent the injury from happening in the first place. Know your limits, wear the right equipment like a helmet and ease into the season so you can have a great time on the mountain."
Wakushima said the physical and mental battle of her rehabilitation was real.
"The first 12 weeks were tough — getting that flexion and extension back in my knees.
"It was weird trying to learn how to walk properly again and getting the gait right. Things that you did so easily before, the injury made them so hard."
Time on the sidelines has given her the opportunity to refocus for Italy in 2026.
"I am not going to let this injury get in the way of my goal of getting to the Winter Olympics, and being able to compete with all the girls.
"My time off the mountain has made me appreciate my sport more. I love the community that we have in Queenstown and Wānaka. They make you feel like you are part of something special and cared for."