American Mikaela Shiffrin crashes in the World Cup Killington giant slalom

Killington (United States) (AFP) - US ski superstar Mikaela Shiffrin said Sunday she has no timetable for her return from a puncture wound and muscle trauma from her the giant slalom crash that derailed her bid for a 100th World Cup victory.

“Our guidelines are treat the symptoms,” Shiffrin told broadcaster NBC in a remote interview on Sunday as her World Cup rivals prepared to race the second leg of a World Cup slalom in Killington. “Right now I’m pretty limited in doing anything.”

Shiffrin said her experience with past muscle injuries and spasms made her think she would be unable to return in time for the women’s races at Beaver Creek, Colorado, in two weeks’ time.

“I think it’s pretty likely I will not be able to race in Beaver Creek,” Shiffrin said.

Shiffrin’s comments came after US Ski & Snowboard director of communications Courtney Harkins revealed the American suffered a “puncture wound into the right side of her abdomen and severe muscle trauma.”

“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.”

Shiffrin said she remained mystified as to how exactly the unusual injury occurred.

“We’re just not totally sure how I got punctured,” she said. “Probably hitting the gate at some point. We’re not totally sure how deep it is, (it is) basically a hole through my oblique.”

“It’s a really weird injury,” Shiffrin said with a little laugh, acknowledging that she felt “very lucky to not have worse injuries.”

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, showed that “bones and internal organs look OK” and no ligament damage has been found.

“I think that I ever so lightly caught my inside edge on that left-footed turn and my skis kind of clicked together,” Shiffrin told NBC, adding that as she tumbled through a gate and slid into the fence “I felt like I had 12 different legs on me.”

After back-to-back slalom wins in Finland and Austria this season, the 29-year-old 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.