American ski racer Mikaela Shiffrin suffered a puncture wound to her abdomen and “severe muscle trauma” after crashing hard during her second run of a World Cup giant slalom race on Saturday in Killington, Vermont. The 29-year old Shiffrin, the winningest skier in World Cup history, had been in pursuit of her 100th career victory when the accident occurred.
After leading the first run of the giant slalom, Shiffrin was approaching the finish line when she lost grip on her outside ski, hitting a gate and then flipping over before sliding into another gate and being stopped by protective fencing at the edge of the course. Shiffrin remained down for some time before eventually being taken off the hill on a sled and transported by ambulance to Rutland Regional Medical Center for further evaluation.
On Sunday morning, the U.S. Ski & Snowboard Team shared that while no ligament damage was assessed and Shiffrin’s bones and internal organs looked OK, she had suffered a puncture wound into the right side of her abdomen and severe muscle trauma. The team says Shiffrin’s return to competition is yet to be determined.
The team statement backed up a direct update that Shiffrin herself had shared, saying that she had suffered an abrasion and could not move.
“Not really too much cause for concern at this point, I just can’t move. I have a pretty good abrasion,” Shiffrin said while showing a doctor working on the abrasion. “So I just can’t move. I’m so sorry to scare everybody. It looks like all scans so far are clear. Thank you for the support and concern. And congratulations to the winners and my team.”
Shiffrin was left with only the 19th DNF of her World Cup career, and the first since all the way back in January 2018. She has made 275 career World Cup starts with a record 99 victories, a mark she set nearly two full years ago after surpassing Ingemar Stenmark.
Reigning Olympic champion Sara Hector went on to win Saturday’s race in a combined time of 1 minute, 53.08 seconds.
