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.
Hong Kong-based cricket team Hung See this weekend found success in their matches in Taiwan, even if none of the results went their way. Hung See played the Chairman’s XI on Saturday morning, the Daredevils that afternoon and PCCT yesterday, with all three home teams winning. The team for Chinese players at the Happy Valley-based Craigengower Cricket Club sends teams on tour to “spread the game of cricket.” This weekend was Hung See’s second trip to Taiwan after visiting Tainan in 2016. “The club has been traveling to all parts of the world since 1982 and the annual tradition continues [with the Taiwan
Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei yesterday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while Coco Gauff’s dreams of a first women’s singles title in Melbourne were crushed in the quarter-finals by Paula Badosa. World No. 2 Alexander Zverev was ruffled by a stray feather in his men’s singles quarter-final, but he refocused to beat 12th seed Tommy Paul and reach the semi-finals. Third seeds Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia defeated Elena-Gabriela Ruse of Romania and Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine 6-2, 5-7, 7-5 in 2 hours, 20 minutes to advance the semi-finals. Hsieh and Ostapenko converted eight of 14 break
The San Francisco Giants signed 18-year-old Taiwanese pitcher Yang Nien-hsi (陽念希) to a contract worth a total of US$500,000 (NT $16.39 million). At a press event in Taipei on Wednesday, Jan. 22, the Giants’ Pacific Rim Area scout Evan Hsueh (薛奕煌) presented Yang with a Giants jersey to celebrate the signing. The deal consisted of a contract worth US$450,000 plus a US$50,000 scholarship bonus. Yang, who stands at 188 centimeters tall and weighs 85 kilograms, is of Indigenous Amis descent. With his fastest pitch clocking in at 150 kilometers per hour, Yang had been on Hsueh’s radar since playing in the HuaNan Cup
HARD TO SAY GOODBYE: After Coco Gauff dispatched Belinda Bencic in the fourth round, she wrote ‘RIP TikTok USA’ and drew a broken heart on a television camera lens Defending champion Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while compatriot Chan Hao-ching on Saturday dominated her opponents in the second round, as world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka swept into the quarter-finals. Third seeds Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia toppled Hungary’s Timea Babos and Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US 6-4, 6-3, hitting 24 winners and converting three of seven break points in 1 hour, 18 minutes at 1573 Arena. Although rivals at last year’s Australian Open — where Hsieh and Belgium’s Elise Mertens beat Ostapenko and Ukraine’s Lyudmyla Kichenok 6-1, 7-5
RSS