Earlier this week, United States Olympic downhill skier Lindsey Vonn announced she had a successful surgery. It was her third surgery three days after breaking her leg Monday during a race in Italy.

It happened less than two weeks after another crash left her with a torn ACL.

Athletes are almost programmed to push aside the danger of the sport they participate in, but that doesn’t mean they don’t get scared. It’s all about finding the right mindset and getting help when needed.

What You Need To Know

Freestyle aerials is a sport that became an Olympic competition in 1994

Athletes say the jumps, which put them 50 feet into the air as they twist and flip, coming down at roughly 40 miles per hour, is scary

However, they add that all the hard work that goes into training, as well as some mental exercises, allow them to focus not on only winning, but growing the sport

“I mean, I think all of us are up there and we’re feeling fear,” said U.S. Freestyle Aerials Olympic team member Kaila Kuhn, “and it would be a lie if any of us told you that we weren’t scared.”

In the Olympic sport known as freestyle aerials, there are all types of jumps, twists and flips.

“Every aerial skier feels fear and it’s every day, not just some days, or when you’re doing the really big tricks,” said Rochester native and fellow Team USA competitor Christopher Lillis.

The athletes launch themselves off 7- to 13-foot-high ramps, known as kickers, hitting heights from 30 to 50 feet in the air. They come down at a speed of more than 40 miles an hour.

“I’m really just telling myself, ‘don’t be scared, hit the takeoff.’ That’s the PG version of it,” said Team USA competitor Quinn Dehlinger.

“I don’t know if how a jump is going to work. I don’t know if I’m going to land on my feet. I’ve definitely taken a lot of hard crashes over the years. You just try not to let it get to you, but you approach your competitions. I approach my competitions the same way every time. A lot of intensity, a lot of passion behind my jumps,” Lillis added.

It’s also how they approach training thousands of hours on hills and in the summer in pools.

“By the time you’re seeing us on TV doing three flips, we’ve done hundreds of repetitions of it before,” Kuhn said.

“And so knowing that just kind of gives a certain amount of certainty to it,” Lillis said.

The training includes a lot of mental preparation.

“Sometimes, it’s breath work or meditation or speaking with sports psychs,” Kuhn said.

Every step, she says, is worth it.

“It is the most rewarding feeling in the world to have done so many of these jumps and then to finally put some to your feet, especially when it matters most. There’s really not a feeling like it,” Kuhn said.

All three American athletes are competing for gold in the Winter Olympics in Italy.

The aerial competitions for both men and women begin Feb. 17, wrapping up with the mixed-team finals Feb. 21.