Two-time Olympic gold medalist Mikaela Shiffrin was hospitalized on Friday after a scary crash in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy.
The crash was on the Olympia delle Tofane course, which will be used during the 2026 Milan-Cortina Olympics.
Shiffrin, who holds a record 95 World Cup wins, was speeding down the course before losing control after a jump just 20 seconds into the race. Shiffrin slid off of the course and came to a stop after crashing into the safety barriers.
The 28-year-old American was helped off of the course and did not immediately put weight on her leg before being transported to a local hospital via medical helicopter.
Pretty sure world cup skiing clips aren’t allowed on social media so if everyone’s cool and we’re in the trust tree. Here’s the Mikaela Shiffrin crash no one in the US is allowed to watch. pic.twitter.com/oCoH15jxRj
— Ben Durham (@BigDurham) January 26, 2024
After the crash, U.S. team coach Paul Kristofic said Shiffrin is “prettty sore” and won’t race again this weekend. However, the good news is that she avoided any ligament damage with her ACL and MCL still intact.
“She’s actually quite good,” Kristofic said via the Associated Press.
“She’s positive and, in a certain way, relieved. Because it could have been worse. But she’s pretty sore, as you are for most speed crashes. But she was quite upbeat about things.”
Shiffrin also commented on the crash with a post on Instagram that showed her left leg wrapped up.
“Thank you everyone for your support and well wishes. At this point I’m just taking it day by day, and I’ll share more information or updates as I know more,” Shiffrin wrote. “Very thankful it’s not worse, but I’m pretty sore at the moment. I won’t be skiing the rest of this weekend, and I won’t be skiing in Kronplatz. Beyond that, it’s quite hard to say right now.
“Need a little time to process with my team and see how everything is feeling in the coming days.”
Despite Shiffrin’s crash, it was a big day for Team USA, with five racers finishing in the top 30 and the team as a whole earning a top 20 finish.
