Loena Hendrickx: “2024 was a dark year, during that period with my ankle I doubted whether I was too old, whether I could still do it. ‘It’s over,’ I thought. ‘It’s finished.’ Now I skate with joy again.”
After a difficult year with an ankle injury, Loena Hendrickx underwent surgery and is now skating pain-free, feeling relieved and ready for the Olympics.
original source: Sporza dd. December 31st, 2025
Loena Hendrickx, after overcoming injury and qualifying for her third Olympics, reflects on the physical and mental challenges of figure skating and her desire to enjoy the Games without stress. Here’s a translation of the article posted on Sporza.
“Loena Hendrickx’s (26) Olympic participation was hanging by a thread due to a persistent ankle injury, but after surgery, Hendrickx is back on the ice with a smile – and with a ticket to the Games.
“The start of a new chapter,” is how Loena Hendrickx herself describes the beginning of 2025.
Her ankle continued to trouble her, and the figure skater chose to undergo a drastic procedure a year before the Games. She risked her Olympic participation, but Hendrickx knew that surgery could also set her free.
“The start of 2025 felt like a relief for me,” she says in our year-end series. “2024 was a dark year, because I still didn’t have answers about my injury. Now I knew there was a chance to reach the highest level again, but surgery was necessary. It was the solution and it gave me a lot of courage.”
Had Hendrickx known earlier that surgery would turn out positively, she would have chosen it sooner. “Last year was a low point and I was in a black hole. Now I skate with joy again.”
“I’m so relieved that I can skate more freely and that everything is just a bit easier. Things are going much better, and I missed that in 2024.”
Through her misfortune and doubts, Hendrickx rediscovered what truly matters. “I’ve realized that I still love this sport immensely.”
“I had a year filled with tears. That’s not normally me. I do get frustrated quickly or can be angry if something isn’t right, but in 2024 I skated with sadness. Everything I could normally do with ease became difficult. Now there’s freedom again, I have to think less, and things come more naturally.”
“Of course, you still have to think because of the technical aspects. But last year was all about thinking and failing. Now, there’s much less of that, and that makes me happier.”
Hendrickx’s ankle has healed, but figure skating remains a demanding sport for the body. Doubts that arose with certain jumps haven’t completely disappeared.
“As you get older, you become more afraid,” Hendrickx explains, comparing it to an amusement park. “A child gets on every ride without thinking. When you’re older, you think more about the risks. That’s how I feel in this sport, and it’s scary. Wiser with age? Sometimes a little too wise.”
“They always say that in this sport, it’s better not to be too smart so you don’t overthink things – then it all comes naturally. You have to be able to switch off, put your mind to zero.”
Hendrickx is satisfied with how she can train now and how she feels. “It’s important to talk about it. Life isn’t all perfection. These periods are part of it. My mental coach has helped me a lot. My brother knows me inside out, just like my mom. But my love for the sport pulled me through.”
“I normally never have tears on the ice, but during that period with my ankle, it was constant. I definitely doubted whether I was too old, whether I could still do it. ‘It’s over,’ I thought. ‘It’s finished.’”
But that wasn’t the case, because in China Hendrickx secured her ticket to the Winter Olympics. “What a relief. It was all or nothing. I’ve never worked towards a competition with such focus.”
“There were so many doubts. Everything had to be just right, and there couldn’t be any major setbacks. My rehabilitation had to go perfectly, and we listened very carefully to my body.”
“In my eyes, it was perfect. Yes, a lot of things could have been better, but qualification was the goal and I achieved it. I’m proud of that.”
After that early peak, Hendrickx feels “exhausted.” “Because I’ve never been used to that in my whole career.”
“My goal is the Olympics, so now I have to listen to my body. I have to keep going until February.”
In Italy, at her third Olympics, Hendrickx mainly wants to enjoy herself. “I want to seize these Games with both hands. I don’t want to feel sick from stress. I want to enjoy everything I’ve achieved after all these years.”
What comes after the Olympics, Hendrickx hasn’t decided yet. “I’ve reached an age where my body can’t handle it as easily,” says the 26-year-old Olympian. “It will be more a choice of ‘I can’t do it anymore’ than ‘I don’t want to do it anymore.’ That’s pretty tough. It will be scary when my career is over, because then one world will be closed. I don’t have another world yet, and that’s quite scary. I still have to figure out how skating can remain a part of my life.”
Related topics: Loena Hendrickx
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