By Polly Mikula
While the Killington Cup did not go as many expected and all hoped it would, with Mikaela Shiffrin set up to win her 100th World Cup race but instead crashing just seconds before the finish line, the Alpine superstar (still recovering) recently reflected with pride on her runs at Killington.
“My GS skiing was the best it’s ever been on that track,” she wrote on Facebook, Sunday, Dec. 8. “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.”
As a result of the crash on her second run of the Giant Slalom, Saturday, Nov. 30, Shiffrin suffered a puncture wound into the right side of her abdomen and severe muscle trauma. However, she was spared ligament damage and any injury to her bones and internal organs.
“I’m incredibly thankful the crash wasn’t worse,” Shiffrin continued on her Facebook post. “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,” she said. “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…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.”
Looking ahead, Shiffrin has not yet announced when she’ll be able to return to racing. She posted a video this past weekend of her taking a walk at her home in Edward, Colorado, and showed off her “wound vacuum,” which is attached to her body.
While this season is still up in the air, it didn’t stop Shiffrin from looking even further ahead to racing again in Killington.
“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 of 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… The whole vibe in Killington Resort—fans, volunteers, hill prep workers, family—it’s truly a special atmosphere.”
