Mikaela Shiffrin – big crash during the women’s downhill race –
Cortina d’Ampezzo, Jan26, 2024 (youtube.com)
CORTINA D’AMPEZZO – January 26, 2024.
Mikaela Shiffrin crashes out in scary-looking Cortina downhill fall | NBC Sports.
After one of the scariest crashes of her career, Mikaela Shiffrin is relieved it wasn’t worse.
The American skier with a record 95 World Cup wins is “pretty sore,” her coach said, but doesn’t appear to have any ligament damage in her left knee. She won’t race again this weekend, though, and it’s unclear when she’ll return. “She’s actually quite good,” U.S. team coach Paul Kristofic said after Shiffrin slammed into the safety nets at high speed during a World Cup downhill on Friday.
“She’s positive and in a certain way relieved,” Kristofic told The Associated Press.
“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 lost control while landing a jump in a patch of soft snow on the upper portion of the Olympia delle Tofane course that will be used for the 2026 Milan-Cortina Olympics. Then she slammed into the net at high speed.
Medics tended to Shiffrin immediately and she limped off the course with her left boot raised off the snow. As per the protocol in Cortina, Shiffrin was loaded into a helicopter and taken halfway down the mountain to a landing area for further evaluations.
Then she was transported by ambulance to a hospital in Cortina.
A helicopter flies evacuating United States’ Mikaela Shiffrin after she crashed during an alpine ski, women’s World Cup downhill race, in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, Friday, Jan. 26, 2024. Shiffrin crashed into the safety nets after losing control, landing a jump during a World Cup women’s downhill on Friday. AP Photo/Alessandro Trovati
Resemblance of December 12, 2015:
Mikaela Shiffrin injures right knee in crash – NBC Sports
Olympic gold medalist Mikaela Shiffrin was taken by ambulance to a clinic in Italy for a leg injury. The US Ski & Snowboard Team said her ACL and PCL “seem intact” after analysis.
Shiffrin thanked fans for their support in a post on social media after the injury.
Olympian Mikaela Shiffrin was taken to a clinic by ambulance from a skiing event in Italy following a crash on the slope.
On Friday, the US Ski & Snowboard Team said in a statement that Shiffrin, 28, was evaluated for a left leg injury at a local clinic in Cortina d’Ampezzo. According to the post on X (formerly Twitter), Shiffrin’s ACL and PCL “seem intact” after an initial analysis.
The US Ski Team said it will provide “further details” as they come.
The crash occurred midway through Shiffrin’s run on the slope, when the two-time gold medalist lost control and crashed into surrounding nets, according to CNN. The outlet reported that Shiffrin was seen limping and relying on her skis to support her weight as medical officials attended to her after the crash. Shiffrin — who clinched her 87th victory last March, breaking Ingemar Stenmark record of 86 total wins — took to X
to let fans know that she’s in good spirits amid the injury.
As of now, Mikaela Shiffrin has an impressive 95 World Cup wins in alpine skiing, making her the all-time leader in FIS Alpine Ski World Cup career victories. This remarkable achievement places her eight wins ahead of the legendary Ingemar Stenmark, who held the previous record with 86 wins. Notably, the closest female competitor is the retired Lindsey Vonn, who achieved 82 World Cup wins during her career1.
2023/2024 FIS alpine ski World Cup season updated rankings: The race for the crystal globes – Full lists
Watch the unique behind the scenes series following the French alpine team on the World Cup circuit.
Mikaela Shiffrin medals and wins: Full list of records and stats of USA Alpine skiing star
Shiffrin’s dominance extends beyond just wins.
Here are some other key numbers from her incredible career:
17 global medals: Mikaela Shiffrin has graced the podium 17 times at the Olympic Games and World Championships. Her medal collection includes two golds and a silver at the Olympic Winter Games, as well as seven golds, four silvers, and three bronzes at World Championship events.
6 consecutive World Championships golds (2013–2023): Shiffrin’s consistency and excellence have led her to win gold medals in six consecutive World Championships,
a remarkable feat.
150 World Cup podiums: Among these podium finishes, she has an astounding
82 in slalom, which is the most by any skier in a single discipline, regardless of gender.
14 seasons on the World Cup circuit: Shiffrin has been a force to be reckoned with for 14 seasons, from 2010/11 through 2023/24.
15 Crystal Globes: These include five overall Crystal Globes and ten discipline titles (seven in slalom, two in giant slalom, and one in super-G). Her seven slalom titles set an all-time record in a single discipline.
58 World Cup slalom wins: Shiffrin’s dominance in slalom ranks her at the top for any skier, male or female, in a single discipline.
22 World Cup giant slalom wins: She surpassed the previous women’s record held by Vreni Schneider.
17 victories in a single season: In the 2018/19 season, Shiffrin set the FIS World Cup record for the most wins in one season.
First skier to win in all six World Cup disciplines: Shiffrin has triumphed in downhill, super-G, slalom, giant slalom, combined, and parallel races, making her the only person, man or woman, to achieve this feat.
Mikaela Shiffrin’s journey began on March 13, 1995, when she was born in Vail, Colorado, USA. She raced her first World Cup event in Spindleruv Mlyn, Czechia, a day before her 16th birthday in 20111.
Her achievements continue to inspire fans and fellow athletes alike.
Related: Mikaela Shiffrin Opens Up About Overcoming Her Racing Anxiety and Feeling ‘Destined to Fail’
Despite the incident during competition, Shiffrin said she’s still smiling.
Adding onto her post on X, Shiffrin wrote, “But oh my god…looking at
the results for our team makes me smile so much.”
Shiffrin wrote later on Instagram.
“Very thankful it’s not worse, but I’m pretty sore at the moment.”
She fell about 20 seconds into her run just before the narrow Tofana schuss — or chute — through walls of rock, which is the most characteristic feature of the biggest women’s race of the season. “It’s tricky there,” Kristofic said, “because you’re landing it and it’s a left-footed turn that has a pretty sharp drop. And she was carrying more speed than she did in the training run. And then she probably trimmed a little more line than she should have. And it pushed her about a meter too far left. And that’s where the terrain change is quite abrupt.
“So it loaded the ski up like crazy and that’s when things started. She tried to save it but she knew at that point where she was in trouble. So, she was actually trying not to hit the next gate, and that’s when it just caught and she went flying into the net.”
In an otherwise record-breaking career, Shiffrin had some high-profile mishaps at the Beijing Olympics two years ago, when she didn’t finish three of her five individual races.
“She doesn’t fall often,” Kristofic said. “But it can happen. It just goes to show you how on the limit athletes push and and how the courses push them. And they have to if they want to be competitive.” Shiffrin said she won’t race again in Cortina this weekend, and will also sit out a giant slalom at the nearby Kronplatz resort on Tuesday.
“Beyond that, it’s quite hard to say right now,” Shiffrin added. “Need a little time to process with my team and see how everything is feeling in the coming days!”
Attempting to match Annemarie Moser-Pröll’s record with a sixth overall title, Shiffrin holds a 340-point lead over Lara Gut-Behrami, with Federica Brignone 422 points back.
Other top skiers also crashed. Brignone got up and skied down after she went down. Olympic downhill champion Corinne Suter pulled up midway down her run, clutched her left knee, and was airlifted away. Suter tore her ACL and damaged her meniscus and is out for the season.
Michelle Gisin, a two-time Olympic champion, hurt her right tibia and won’t race again this weekend. In all, 12 of 52 starters didn’t finish the race, which was won by Stephanie Venier of Austria.
The downhill was held amid clear and sunny conditions but warm temperatures.
Shiffrin and Brignone became the fourth and fifth former overall World Cup champions
to crash in the past two weeks following season-ending injuries to Alexis Pinturault, Aleksander Aamodt Kilde and Petra Vlhova.
“Thank you all for your support,” Shiffrin wrote, along with resharing the US Ski Team’s statement. Shiffrin set for return after hectic start to year – Search Videos (bing.com)
American ski star Mikaela Shiffrin suffered a terrifying downhill crash earlier this year. She speaks to CNN World Sport’s Don Riddell ahead of her highly anticipated return to the sport. Rehab Like A Champion: Mikaela Shiffrin’s Return To The Slopes – ESPN
Mikaela Shiffrin avoids ligament damage after heavy downhill crash | The Guardian
Olympian Mikaela Shiffrin Taken by Ambulance After Crash During Downhill Ski Competition (yahoo.com)
Returning From Injury, Mikaela Shiffrin Is Rebuilt Once More
Mikaela Shiffrin Keys To Drill Mastery (youtube.com)
Mikaela Shiffrin admits overall World Cup title chances are ‘mathematically a huge stretch’. While making progress in her injury recovery, the double Olympic champion acknowledges she was unable to anticipate her return to competition.
The double Olympic champion is recovering from an injury suffered in the Cortina d’Ampezzo downhill at the end of January: “I have been progressing well. I’m feeling better and better each day,” she said on a video posted on her Instagram account.
“I’ve been able to get on snow this week. I have done some easy light volume and slalom open gates on flat terrain for two days. I’ve also tested it out with some light GS free skiing, and things are feeling pretty good.
“Over the next 10 days, we will be looking to ramp up into a little bit more with a little bit faster speeds … riding course setting, ideally a little bit more of an aggressive surface that is a bit more similar to a race venue.”
Mikaela Shiffrin on anticipating her comeback: ‘It just wasn’t possible…’
After Sunday’s first Super G in Val di Fassa, Italy, was cancelled due to heavy snow, Shiffrin will miss three of the remaining nine races scheduled until the end of the season. She currently trails leader Lara Gut-Behrami by 205 points, and the deficit (with 100 points awarded to the winner of each race) could even double when she returns in Are.
“As soon as we realised that Andorra and Val di Fassa were not going to be possible,
I had to kind of come to terms with the fact that the overall would mathematically be
a really huge stretch,” she admitted. “It’s not really about fighting or not fighting for it.
It just wasn’t possible. Believe me, I would have tried if I remotely thought that I could
just simply make it to the finish of a course somewhere safely, I would have tried.
That is not in the cards yet, but I’m getting there.”
Mikaela Shiffrin: Top facts you might not know about US alpine superstar.
Shiffrin confessed that being away from the races offered her the chance to
watch them with a ‘fresh perspective’ and to ‘appreciate the level of skiing’:
“Lara (Gut-Behrami) in particular has been stunning to watch. She is really at such a high level of racing right now. As much as I want to be competitive with that right now, we all just have to sit back and appreciate that and it was so exciting to watch AJ (Hurt) get her first GS podium in Andorra, and Paula (Moltzan) get her third World Cup podium in the slalom. It was so much fun to watch my team-mates do that there, and I just wish that I was there to celebrate with them.”
The glow from a laptop screen illuminates the greatest ski racer of all time near the end
of another historic World Cup season. Historic, this time, in two ways: for her continued domino-toppling of all records in sight—and for another injury that in all likelihood will cost her any chance at winning another World Championship this season, as she has in four of the last five years. Mikaela Shiffrin is in Norway, working her way back. Again. She’s not considering her long-term legacy. It’s still far too soon. She’s focused instead on immediate impacts: on the next generation; on her sport, its popularity, its place in wider pantheons of what humans pay attention to and pay to watch; and, now more than ever, what it demands from its top athletes.
Shiffrin will return this weekend in Åre, Sweden, where she won her first race, set the
all-time wins record, sustained her first injury and where she returned to competition
after the death of her father. © Eric Bolte/USA TODAY Sports
The destination—dominance—never changes.
Shiffrin wins races within her primary specialty, slalom events, at unprecedented rates. She also nabs speed crowns and combined victories. On March 13, she will turn 29, and yet, she has already won 95 World Cup races, or nine more than the legend, Ingemar Stenmark, who held the previous all-time mark, the one long considered out of reach. She’s not done and doesn’t appear that close to considering retirement.
Not yet. Shiffrin, when healthy, continues to ski further and further away from all competition except the only competitor she has left: Mikaela Shiffrin. She must now be defined in only the loftiest terms. By the best kind of brilliance (often) and spectacular failure (rarely but publicly). By World Cup wizardry and Olympic disappointment. By love, laughter and loss. By injuries and grief. And by deep, personal, public introspection that few, if any, famous athletes would ever dare present to the world.
Shiffrin is all those things. She’s also bunkered down inside a rental cabin in Norway;
her room sandwiched between those occupied by her mother, Eileen, and her physical therapist. She describes the space as cozy, meaning wintry and not huge. There are bunk beds in her room and wooden planks overhead and a piano, the one she can’t stop playing. She had booked the cabin in case she could compete. She continues rehabbing her injured knee, healing, making songs.
Shiffrin cannot read sheet music. But she has played the piano since childhood, primarily through sound. Proof that Shiffrin can do pretty much anything lies there. She hears a song, places fingers on keyboards and just plays by ear—everything from Taylor Swift covers to melodies of her own creation. She obviously cannot travel with a piano, and since most hotels don’t have them, any opportunity to soothe anxiety and alleviate pressure and feel human is rare and embraced.
There’s one problem in Norway—the piano’s location is in her room.
Shiffrin cannot play too late or too loudly. She must play in something like a musical whisper, tapping out chill tunes meant to elicit calm, positive vibes, while not annoying
her neighbors. This is vintage Mikaela Shiffrin, funny and reflective and relatable.
Injuries happen. So will more history, as long as she doesn’t focus on her job,
winning, or where and how she breaks whatever record she’ll topple next.
Dropping soon: new album, Mikaela Shiffrin’s Recovery Instrumentals.
This weekend, she will also return to the competition where magic tends to happen when she skis. Shiffrin won her first World Cup race in Åre, Sweden, along with her all-time record-tying (No. 86) and breaking (87) races. It’s where she sustained her very first injury—and where she returned to competition after her father died.
Also dropping soon: Mikaela Shiffrin, rebuilt once more, steeled beyond belief and ready, above all, to produce another round of magic.
World Cup victory No. 95 unspooled in Slovakia in January. Shiffrin won that race
by the slimmest of margins, 14-hundredths of a second. She climbed onto a medal podium for the 150th time. In a recap email, her reps briefly laid out her plan for the weeks ahead.
Head to Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy; finish training for the upcoming speed series events; and, ideally, cement another overall season championship, good for six total, tied for the most ever.
“I actually remember everything,” Shiffrin says of the day these plans suddenly changed.
The courses that officials set up in Cortina had “a ton of terrain” layered into them. “They built more terrain on purpose,” Shiffrin says. “And the landing zones weren’t completely thought out.” She launches into an explanation of her injury, which is complex and heavy with jargon but centers on ideal lines for racers, how rarely they actually take them and how more terrain meant more racing farther off ideal lines.
Alpine skiing superstar Mikaela Shiffrin admitted that trying to win her sixth overall World Cup title this season has become a ‘huge stretch’ as she confirmed she
would return to racing in Are, Sweden, on 9 and 10 March.
Follow Mikaela Shiffrin ⛷💨 (@mikaelashiffrin) • Instagram photos and videos