Mikaela Shiffrin was in a lot of pain, but feels relieved after race crash, US coach says

Mikaela Shiffrin is in a lot of pain, but she’s relieved she didn’t suffer more serious injuries in a crash during Friday’s downhill race, her U.S. coach said.

Initial analysis shows that Shiffrin did not suffer damage to the anterior cruciate ligament or PCL in her left knee when she crashed and slid into the safety net at the World Cup in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy. .

“She’s actually very good,” said Paul Kristofik, head coach of U.S. women’s alpine skiing. According to the Associated Press, reported that Shiffrin will not run Saturday’s downhill or Sunday’s super-G. “She’s positive and in a way relieved, because it could have been much worse. But she’s also pretty hurt, as you are in most speed collisions. But she was very optimistic about things.”

Seventeen seconds into the run, Shiffrin overcame a small jump, landed, and tried to adjust to make a gate, but fell to the ground and slid into the safety net at considerable speed. She bounced off the net and one of her skis came off.

Two minutes later, the broadcast again showed several people supporting Shiffrin. She got up five minutes after the accident, used her ski poles as her crutches, and left the scene.

She made several careful steps, but there was no sign that she was putting any weight on her left foot.

According to US Ski & Snowboard, Shiffrin contacted her teammates via WhatsApp while they waited to ski.

“It’s okay, guys, the surface is money, we get this!” she told them.

Kristofik did not know when Shiffrin would return to competition. The season lasts until late March.

“At this point, we’re just going to take it one day at a time and treat what we’ve got and try to get her back on track,” he said.

Shiffrin has a record 95 Alpine Ski World Cup wins, including a circuit-leading seven this season.

The three racers following Shiffrin, Swiss Olympic downhill gold medalist Colin Suter, stopped her run and screamed immediately after landing the same jump that had troubled Shiffrin.

The Swiss federation later announced that Suter suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament at the end of the season.

Two-time Olympic combined champion Michel Gysin of Switzerland injured his right tibia in an accident further down the course and will not race again this weekend.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.