Mikaela Shiffrin almost floated across the finish line and the crowd went wild. A lead of 1.83 seconds flashed on the board in Killington Stadium, along with the green “1”. Shiffrin was in the lead again, almost self-evident as she smiled into the camera. A sign reading “Go Mikaela, Ski Race Win 100 & beyond” towered from the stands between the U.S. flags. Shiffrin was on number one, that’s what it said at halftime, but she hadn’t yet won her 100th World Cup race. If you like, only 99 and a half were done. She still had a second run to do – and again this motivational sign stood out from the crowd. And then everything turned out completely differently.
The “Superstar” race track in Killington had 39 final goals for Mikaela Shiffrin on Saturday, which still stood between her and her 100th World Cup victory. It’s hard to believe that this mark can fall at all; other very good ski racers may win one or two races in their careers, some won none at all. Lena Dürr from Munich, for example, who missed the second run of Killington by twelve hundredths of a second in the first round when she finished 34th, is one of the world’s best slalom skiers with a total of two victories. The 21-year-old Emma Aicher from SC Malmstetten, still without a World Cup win, was 19th on the day. finished in the points and was therefore the best German. And Shiffrin?
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At a height of 1,128 meters, she was the last to throw herself down the slope, as she often did when she triumphed in the end, including here on her local mountain. But this slope in Vermont had already given the runners in front of her an idea of how tough and icy the slope had become. And 29-year-old Shiffrin, who recently glided almost weightlessly through the bars in the slalom, was clearly struggling. Their three-tenths of a second lead was halved in the ice grooves halfway down the track. She was still in the lead, but then what no one wanted to see happened: After a turn to the right, Shiffrin slipped on the inside ski, rolled over, crashed into the safety fence and remained there motionless. Down in the stands, a fan lowered his sign, silence. Everyone looked at the big video screen. How is Mikaela Shiffrin?
“It looks like all the scans are OK,” Shiffrin says from the hospital bed
While the American was being transported away on the Akia sled, the top three of this ski race down in the Killington stadium were visibly having a hard time rejoicing. The Swede Sarah Hector had just won a World Cup race for the sixth time in her career, but looked just as dazed from under her ski goggles as second-placed Zrinka Ljutiv from Croatia and third-placed Camille Rast from Switzerland. Lying in the Akia wasn’t a good sign at first.
It was almost midnight in Germany when the video message appeared online; Shiffrin posted it herself on platform as easily possible. “There is no cause for great concern at this time,” says Shiffrin. “I just can’t move. I have a big abrasion and something impaled me,” she reports, showing the wound on the left pelvic area that is currently being treated.
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Shiffrin adds that she will not be competing in her flagship discipline, slalom, on Sunday. What didn’t happen then is obviously out of the question at the moment. “I’ll be cheering from outside,” she captioned the video. And she apologized for worrying her viewers and fans with her fall and attempted a cautious all-clear: “It looks like all the scans are fine.”
There was no word of an official diagnosis until Sunday afternoon. So also not how serious her injuries actually are and how long Shiffrin will be out. It is currently unclear whether she will be able to compete in the two giant slaloms next weekend in Tremblant, Canada. The most prominent, best and most dazzling ski couple in the world is currently out of action. Since his horror fall in Wengen almost a year ago, Shiffrin’s friend Aleksander Aamodt Kilde has been more or less busy with rehab instead of serious skiing. At a recent World Cup meeting in Gurgl, Kilde demonstrated that he could only lift his left arm. His girlfriend’s fall apparently falls into a much easier category, although there are still some question marks at the moment.
Five of the world’s best are working on their comebacks after serious falls in the pre-winter
In this still young winter, Shiffrin’s fall will be remembered as the heaviest to date. And some observers of the scene will be wondering whether this is starting again. The past alpine season was marked by serious falls. The Austrian Marco Schwarz continues to struggle with the after-effects and additional disc problems after tearing his cruciate ligament on the descent from Bormio shortly after Christmas 2023. In October he announced the first turns for the end of November, with the aim of returning to the World Ski Championships in Saalbach in February at the latest. The Frenchman Alexis Pinturault, who seriously injured his knee during the Super-G in Wengen in January, is planning his comeback at the upcoming men’s race weekend in Beaver Creek, as his coach Martin Hager recently told the SZ. Sofia Goggia from Italy wants to return to racing in Beaver Creek after her training fall in February in Ponte di Legno and a severe fracture of her tibia and tibial ankle. Shiffrin’s slalom competitor Petra Vlhova is planning her comeback in Semmering at the end of December. The Slovakian injured her knee during the home race in Jasna at the beginning of February.
And Mikaela Shiffrin? In December 2012, at the age of 17, she won the Are slalom in Sweden, which was her first World Cup victory. “Ski Race Win 100” has now been delayed for a time that is currently difficult to foresee. At least: The Killington fan’s sign remains highly relevant for now.
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