Skiing Champ Mikaela Shiffrin Hospitalized After World Cup Crash

With two Olympic gold medals and a record 95 World Cup titles under her belt, Mikaela Shiffrin has been seemingly invincible. But after suffering a nasty crash at a World Cup event on Jan. 26, the skiing champ is taking some time off the slopes.

It all happened when Shiffrin was speeding down the Olympia delle Tofane course in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, set to be featured in the upcoming 2026 Winter Olympics. She lost control while trying to land a jump and crashed into the safety nets on the side of the course. Medics promptly came to her aid before she limped off the course and was airlifted further down the mountain for evaluation and driven to a local hospital.

Luckily, the skiing star's injuries are minor. "She’s actually quite good," U.S. team coach Paul Kristofic told The Associated Press of her condition. "She’s positive and in a certain way relieved." He pointed out that things could've been worse, which certainly puts things into perspective. "She’s pretty sore, as you are for most speed crashes. But she was quite upbeat about things," he said. Her team reported in a statement that initial analysis shows no damage to her ACL and PCL.

Shiffrin shared her gratitude on Instagram with a photo of her lying in bed icing her knee. "At this point I’m just taking it day by day, and I’ll share more information or updates as I know more. Very thankful it’s not worse, but I’m pretty sore at the moment," she said. "I won’t be skiing the rest of this weekend, and I won’t be skiing in Kronplatz [on Jan. 30]. Beyond that, it’s quite hard to say right now. Need a little time to process with my team and see how everything is feeling in the coming days!"

Who knows? Two years from now she might have a full-circle moment and win an Olympic gold medal on that same slope.