Great to see Mikaela Shiffrin back on her feet walking around (albeit with a wound vacuum strapped to her waist) after suffering a nasty puncture to her right oblique area during her second giant slalom run at the Stifel Killington Cup.
We’ve gotten bits and pieces on her status in the ensuing week and Mikaela just provided a whole lot more information including the suspected culprit of the puncture wound, the tip of her ski pole. Read Mikaela’s full statement below:
MIKAELA SHIFFRIN:
Thank you to everyone for your support! The whole vibe in Killington Resort—fans, volunteers, hill prep workers, family—it’s truly a special atmosphere. I know it wasn’t the weekend that many were expecting or hoping for…but alas.
Reflecting back on the crash after about a week, I’m incredibly thankful the crash wasn’t worse. It was damn close to piercing some organs that would have changed this situation entirely for the worse. I’m grateful for my team, everybody at both Rutland Regional Medical Center and Vail Health who have been taking care of me, and the outpouring of love and kind words from all of you.
My GS skiing was the best it’s ever been on that track…Superstar has always been particularly challenging for me in GS, and I felt like I broke through some kind of barrier. That was the most excited I have been about my feeling in a GS race for a while. That may seem strange, given the circumstances—but, we’ve always talked about my goals revolving around the skiing itself, and the feeling. And I felt good on Saturday…until I was impaled, of course. *LOL*
There’s been a lot of speculation about what caused the puncture wound…and a lot of discussion around the “clean hill initiative”. Some are saying the b-net pin, some are saying the base of the gate, some are speculating about the backpack next to the b-net. Of course, I am fully in support of more safety measures on hill. But, I think in my case, the damage was done before I got close to the net…and in addition to my own coaches and the volunteers who helped me, I want to thank Jojo (coach for Switzerland) who was first to get to me and helped soo so much. After reviewing the video several times, we think it was the tip of my ski pole…given the size and shape of the point of entry. Maybe it pierced in, and then I rolled over it which is what dug out the small cavern… hard to say, really. We’re just glad it’s limited to muscle damage.
There’s a lot of chatter about whether or not Killington will be back next year…I sincerely hope it will…of course there’s some construction planned and that might throw things up in the air— but it’s absolutely one my favorite World Cup venues and I just want to thank all of the volunteers and the organizing committee for all if the work you do and your support of our incredible sport, as always.
CRASH VIDEO:
