Mikaela Shiffrin was taken to the hospital for a probable left leg injury after she careened into the safety nets during a World Cup downhill on Friday on the course for the 2026 Milan-Cortina Olympics. Shiffrin had lost control when landing a jump.
With her left boot lifted off the surface, the American skier, who has a record 95 World Cup victories, was assisted from the course.
“Mikaela Shiffrin was taken by ambulance to the clinic in Cortina and is being evaluated for a left leg injury. Initial analysis shows the ACL and PCL seem intact. Further details to come,” Shiffrin’s team said in a statement.
A social media post by Shiffrin read: “Thank you all for your support.”
Thank you all for your support ❤️
(But oh my god…looking at the results for our team makes me smile so much!!) https://t.co/NX9qBVS8uK
— Mikaela Shiffrin (@MikaelaShiffrin) January 26, 2024
On the higher part of the Olympia delle Tofane course, just before the narrow schuss (chute) that goes through two walls of rock and is the most distinctive element of the greatest women’s race of the season, Shiffrin crashed in a patch of soft snow, her arms flailing.
Afterwards, she slammed into the net with great force and landed hard on the snow. After receiving rapid medical attention, Shiffrin was able to stand and limp away to receive further treatment. Shortly after the race resumed after a lengthy delay due to Shiffrin’s fall, Federica Brignone, the former overall winner, also had an accident. However, Brignone quickly sprang up and then skidded down.
Brignone responded, “I’m OK although I have a few bruises here and there,” before going on to say that the course’s extra topography and rolling made it the most challenging test the ladies had encountered so far this season.
“Actually, it was perfect,” said Brignone, who fell midway down. “We’ve just gotten used to so many easy courses like wide open highways that when you find a difficult course you’ve got to adapt. … I made a stupid mistake.” Another thing Brignone brought up is that the schedule has much too many races.
Olympic gold medalist Corinne Suter appeared to hurt herself shortly after Brignone’s tumble and stopped running halfway through her final leg. With her left knee clutched, Suter sat. A second collision occurred later on, but two-time Olympic winner Michelle Gisin seemed to escape harm.
Twelve out of fifty-two racers failed to complete the course, with Austria’s Stephanie Venier taking first place. Warm sunshine and blue skies were the backdrop for the downhill race. While Shiffrin won four medals in four events at the 2021 world championships in Cortina, the 2026 Games will be held on the Tofane course and the sport will be contested by women.
Following the season-ending injuries sustained by Alexis Pinturault, Aleksander Aamodt Kilde, and Petra Vlhova, Shiffrin and Brignone joined the ranks of four other former overall World Cup champions who have crashed in the previous two weeks. While Shiffrin’s main adversary is Vlhova, her lover is Kilde.
Technical slalom and giant slalom specialist Shiffrin hadn’t competed in a speed event since a super-G in Val d’Isere, France, over 30 days ago. Similar to other competitors, she was unable to complete the race because she failed to see a turning gate on a blind segment. However, Shiffrin emerged victorious from her prior downhill competition in December in St. Moritz, Switzerland.
After a long absence from the speed circuit, Shiffrin had a rough go of it in Wednesday’s lone training session, posting on Instagram about her “scary moments on the course.” The high winds on Thursday forced the cancellation of the second training session.
View this post on Instagram
However, Shiffrin spared some time to compose a message for her American teammates who were yet to compete, nearly immediately following her disaster. “It’s all ok ladies, surface is money, you got this!” “On the squad’s WhatsApp group,” Shiffrin added.
As she rode the chairlift to the start, Italian skier Marta Bassino, who placed eleventh, became anxious upon seeing Shiffrin lying in the nets. “It left quite an impact on me because she was in the nets and wasn’t moving,” Bassino said. “But then she got up and that was a big relief.”
Everyone in the tightly crowded finish area breathed a sigh of relief as Shiffrin stood up. Shiffrin was interviewed by “60 Minutes Sports” in 2014, just one month prior to her first Olympic gold medal win in Sochi. In order to visit the ski school that helped shape Shiffrin into the racer she is today, correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi went to East Burke, Vermont’s Burke Mountain Academy.
Speaking with Shiffrin in May, “CBS Evening News” managing editor and anchor Norah O’Donnell discussed Shiffrin’s world record breaking, coping with sadness following her father’s unexpected death, and motivating the next generation of skiers. Listen to the interview that started this story.
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