The continuation of Mikaela Shiffrin’s alpine season is uncertain due to her abdominal muscle injury.
Alpine skiing star Mikaela Shiffrinwho was injured in the Killington giant slalom at the end of November, hinted in an interview Wednesday that he could miss the rest of the season at worst.
The 29-year-old American injured his abdominal area in the Killington giant slalom, where he had a chance to win his magical 100th World Cup race after leading after the opening lap.
Shiffrin received a deep gash in his abdomen, probably from the tip of his staff.
At first, the injury was not considered serious, but after a “cleaning” operation on the wound last Thursday, it revealed a deeper than expected puncture wound in his oblique abdominal muscles.
– It’s a deep puncture wound with quite a lot of serious muscle trauma. I was really lucky because it was probably only a few millimeters away from my colon, Shiffrin told news agency AFP.
His recovery depends on his progress in the coming weeks and months.
A rare injury for an alpine skier
Shiffrin, who has won the overall World Cup competition five times, says that there are no precedents for his injury in alpine skiing.
– We can look at acute oblique abdominal muscle injuries in baseball, hockey and other sports, but alpine skiing is different compared to those sports.
Alpine skiing places different physical demands on the body than “more traditional sports”. Explosive power in the lower and middle body muscles is central to landing, so that the rider can quickly get from one turn to another.
– When you think about the violent turning force of a jump, slalom or super-G for an athlete, it’s hard to know what the (oblique) abdominal muscle can withstand. We are now giving this injury a couple of weeks to recover. I think every day we get a clearer picture of what it will take, Shiffrin said.
Shiffrin is the most successful active athlete when all skiing sports are included. Shiffrin, who won the World Cup overall competition five times, passed By Ingemar Stenmark in the first place in the all-time victory statistics of the World Cup in March 2023.
This season, Shiffrin had won the slalom in Levi and Gurgli in his previous races.