Just days after extending her record for all-time World Cup wins to 95, American skier Mikaela Shiffrin was airlifted out of the downhill race in Cortina d’Ampezzo after a high-speed crash into the safety nets on Friday (Jan 26).
28-year-old Shiffrin, who was tended by medics for ten minutes before limping off the course, appears to have escaped ligament damage, sharing on social media that she’s “very thankful it’s not worse, but…pretty sore at the moment.”
The US Ski & Snowboard team stated earlier that “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 [anterior cruciate ligament] and PCL [posterior cruciate ligament] seem intact. Further details to come.”
A ligament injury ended the season of Shiffrin’s closest rival, Petra Vhlova, last week.
The race was paused for twenty minutes after Shiffrin lost control landing a jump in a patch of soft snow on the upper half of the Olympia delle Tofane course, set to be used in the 2026 Olympics.
Austria’s Stephanie Venier came in first to claim her second career World Cup win after the race resumed.
“Thank you everyone for your support and well wishes,” Shiffrin said over Instagram. “At this point I’m just taking it day by day.”
“I won’t be skiing the rest of this weekend, and I won’t be skiing in Kronplatz [on Tuesday]. 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! Thank you all!”