Two-time Olympic gold medal skier Mikaela Shiffrin recounted her dramatic World Cup crash, describing one of her injuries Sunday as a “stab wound.”
The U.S. Ski Team said in a statement Sunday that Shiffrin, a seven-time world champion, had been released from a hospital and was recovering after she sustained a puncture wound to her right abdomen.
The crash at the Stifel Killington Cup in Vermont on Saturday resulted in “severe muscle trauma,” according to the organization, which runs the U.S. Olympic ski team.
Shiffrin, 29, was zeroing in on her 100th World Cup win when a ski caught an edge during a giant slalom run and she tumbled into two gates before she hit a fence.
Appearing Sunday on NBC Sports and NBC Olympics, Shiffrin went over the impacts of the crash, which sidelined her at the Killington event, as she watched a replay shared on the broadcast.
“Oh. My. Goodness,” she said, speaking remotely from Vermont. “What an angle, you guys. This is stunning.”
The crash had her tumbling multiple times but bouncing off the fence, she said, before she came to a rest as competition paused and attendants came to her aid.
“I was purposely trying to run the most aggressive line I could,” Shiffrin said of her mindset.
After she was carried away and taken to a hospital, it was determined she had suffered a puncture wound in an oblique muscle, a pair of muscles in the lower front torso, Shiffrin said.
“I have a stab wound, basically,” she said.
It’s not clear what object caused the injury, she said.
“We’re just not totally sure how I got punctured,” Shiffrin said.
Shiffrin said it was the first time she had seen video of the crash. “All things considered, quite lucky,” she said.
On Saturday she spoke casually from her hospital bed in a video on TikTok, telling supporters, “Not really too much cause for concern at this point.”
The U.S. Ski Team said in a statement Sunday on Instagram, attributed to “Team Shiffrin,” that she can’t “walk well” but is grateful no damage was found in organs, bones or ligaments.
“Her priority is healing,” it said.
Camille Rast of Switzerland won the giant slalom at Killington. Shiffrin said competing at the World Cup event in Beaver Creek, Colorado, this month is unlikely.
“Right now I’m pretty limited in doing anything,” Shiffrin said on NBC Sports and NBC Olympics. “But we’ll see how it goes the next couple days.”
She said past injuries involving strained muscles have required about two weeks of recovery time. This injury, she said, involves torn muscle, which she indicated is more serious and takes longer to heal.
In a statement summarizing the competition, Killington Resort said, “Shiffrin was cleared of major injury.” It also noted there is no schedule yet for her return to the sport.
Shiffrin won her 99th World Cup event on Nov. 23 in Gurgl, Austria.
Last year she matched and then passed fellow American Lindsey Vonn’s record number of World Cup wins, 83, becoming what Olympics organizers described as “the most successful female alpine skier in World Cup history.”
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