‘I’ve not had my period since 2014. My bones are weak. My gastrointestinal function is sh$’t’ – with those candid words, American climber Veronica Ewers, who emerged as one of the nation’s brightest talents in 2022, announced that she will step away from professional racing in 2026 to pursue full medical recovery.
The 31-year-old Idaho-native disclosed that a recent blood test showed that her hormone levels “were still nearly non-existent,” after years of severe hormone suppression and the long-term effects of an eating disorder. RED-S, or Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport, has been cited as part of the issue.
Ewers said the results were devastating. Ewers took half of the 2024 season off to focus on healing, and returned in 2025 hoping to “continue my recovery journey whilst training and racing.”
But the dual focus proved impossible. “Trying to perform, which I physically couldn’t do until my hormones recover (stabilise), while trying to recover, which I couldn’t do until I stop trying to perform at the top level, was like beating my head against the wall,” she wrote.
“I’ve put myself into a hole by abusing my body for too long… My body needs a full reset before it can be at its best. I’m tired of being mediocre,” she said.
And beyond performance, she emphasised long-term wellbeing: “Most importantly, I want to go hiking, cycling, running, etc, when I’m older.”
(Image credit: Getty Images)
A decade-long struggle with disordered eating
Ewers’ rise in the sport was meteoric. She attended her first-ever group road ride in 2018, showing up on a too-big, hand-me-down Kona Jake the Snake cyclocross bike in leggings and tennis shoes. By the summer of 2021, she stood on the U.S. Pro Nationals podium with a bronze medal around her neck, and the following year she finished fourth at her first Grand Tour, the Giro d’Italia Donne, and ninth at the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift.
But behind her ascent was a decade-long struggle with disordered eating and its physiological consequences, something she’s outlined at length in her own writing on Substack. She describes childhood anxiety dismissed as mere nerves,…