US ski star Shiffrin has puncture wound, ‘severe muscle trauma’ after crash

KILLINGTON, United States: US ski superstar Mikaela Shiffrin suffered a puncture wound and “severe muscle trauma” in the giant slalom crash that derailed her bid for a 100th World Cup victory, the US alpine ski team said Sunday.

“There is a puncture wound into the right side of her abdomen and severe muscle trauma,” Courtney Harkins, US Ski & Snowboard´s director of communications, said in a statement. “She did not get stitches. They can´t stitch the puncture wound because it´s too deep and there´s a risk of infection.

“She is pretty sore,” added Harkins, who said Shiffrin “can´t walk very well right now” and had no timetable for a return to competition. Shiffrin was leading the giant slalom in Killington on Saturday when she crashed going into the steep final section of the course, hitting a gate and somersaulting before she slid into the catch-fencing.

Harkins said Shiffrin had asked to be taken off the course on a sled because she was “in shock, entirely unable to move, and worried about internal organ trauma.” Scans, however, show that “bones and internal organs look OK” and no ligament damage has been found.

The 29-year-old skier had posted a video on X, formerly Twitter, from her clinic bed on Saturday afternoon saying there was “not really too much cause for concern” after the crash. But indicating the abrasion on her front left abdomen said that “something stabbed me”.

After back-to-back slalom wins in Finland and Austria this season, Shiffrin looked poised to claim her once unimaginable century in Killington, not far from where she attended Burke Mountain Academy as a youngster.

A two-time Olympic champion and five-time World Cup overall champion, she already has 13 more World Cup wins than the most successful man, Ingemar Stenmark -- passing his record of 86 in 2023. She has 17 more than the second woman, compatriot Lindsey Vonn.