US skier Mikaela Shiffrin said she sustained an abrasion on her left hip and that something “stabbed” her when she crashed during her second run of an Audi FIS Ski World Cup giant slalom race on Saturday, doing a flip and sliding into the protective fencing.
Shiffrin stayed down on the edge of the course for quite some time as the ski patrol attended to her. She was taken off the hill on a sled and waved to the cheering crowd before going to a clinic for evaluation.
“Not really too much cause for concern at this point, I just can’t move,” she said later in a video posted on social media. “I have a pretty good abrasion, and something stabbed me... I’m so sorry to scare everybody. It looks like all scans so far are clear.”
Photo: AFP
She planned to skip the slalom race yesterday, writing on Instagram she would be “cheering from the sideline.”
The 29-year-old was leading after the first run of the giant slalom and charging for her 100th World Cup win. She was within sight of the finish line, five gates onto Killington’s steep finish pitch, when she saw an outside edge. She hit a gate and did a somersault before sliding into another gate. The fencing slowed her momentum as she came to an abrupt stop.
Reigning Olympic giant slalom champion Sara Hector of Sweden won in a combined time of 1 minute 53.08 seconds. Zrinka Ljutic of Croatia was second and Swiss racer Camille Rast took third. Americans saw Paula Moltzan and Nina O’Brien finish fifth and sixth.
Photo: AFP
“It’s just so sad, of course, to see Mikaela crash like that and skiing so well,” Hector said on the broadcast after her win. “It breaks my heart and everybody else here.”
The crash was a surprise for everyone. Shiffrin rarely DNFs — ski racing parlance for “did not finish.”
Shiffrin also has not sustained any devastating injuries. In her 14-year career, she has rehabbed only two on-hill injuries: a torn medial collateral ligament and bone bruising in her right knee in December 2015 and a sprained MCL and tibiofibular ligament in her left knee after a downhill crash in January. Neither knee injury required surgery, and both times, Shiffrin was back to racing within two months.
Saturday was shaping up to be a banner day for Shiffrin, who skied flawlessly in the first run and held a 0.32-second lead as she chased after her 100th World Cup win. Shiffrin, who grew up in both New Hampshire and Colorado, and sharpened her skills at nearby Burke Mountain Academy, has long been a fan favorite.
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