In 2022 I went on a freediving & ice-climbing expedition in Northern Iceland. Out there, I managed to bust my back. I remember taking a day off and actually going to the mountains, which was quite stupid because I ended up free soloing up a mountain by myself. And it was pretty sketchy. But at that point, I had really given myself a spinal injury. And even though it's been a hard injury to keep working at, it was probably the most special place to get it. We were surfing, ice climbing, repelling into the glaciers, and climbing out of the glaciers. We were paddle boarding out to icebergs, ice climbing the icebergs, and freediving under the icebergs. It was nonstop. We had two weeks, a very short weather window and we had to get as much content and we had to do as many sports within that window, which I don't think anyone's ever done.
We weren't stretching, we weren't warming up. And we saw that water and it was some of the clearest water in the world. And I remember as I was putting on my wetsuit, something clicked. I remember a click and I remember feeling paralysis on the left side of my body, an electrical shock. And from that day on, I couldn't sit, I couldn't bend over. I was sleeping on the floor. I remember Jimmy just working on me cuz I was in such pain. The entire left side of my body was paralyzed, numb, and tickling pins and needles sensation all the time. I couldn't sleep well for six months in the end. I'd sleep on the floor with my legs raised. But I loved it. I've been enjoying this suffering and this pain that's been teaching me a lot about my body. After Iceland, I flew to Egypt. And on the last day of the last competition of the year, I don't know where that energy came from, I got a National Record in CWTB and it was all mine. My body was destroyed, but my mind was so ready and I was so happy from Iceland that I just got it done. Absolutely.
