Some ghosts never stop haunting you! And Mikaela Shiffrin knows that all too well. November 30, 2024, could have been one of the best days of her career. A milestone 100th World Cup victory—the kind of history-making moment athletes dream of. But as they say, nothing worth having comes easy. Instead of glory, she got disaster—a brutal crash at the Stifel Killington Cup, turning what should have been a triumph into a nightmare she just can’t wake up from. Over two months later, it’s still looping in her head like a horror movie—except she’s both the main character and the unfortunate victim. But what exactly happened that day?

Shiffrin miscalculated, putting too much weight on her inside ski, and what followed was a brutal crash! That crash left her with a puncture wound to her abdomen and severe trauma to her oblique muscles. The most unsettling part? Whatever pierced her side remains a mystery, turning this accident into something almost eerie. Determined to understand what went wrong, Shiffrin has studied the footage countless times, analyzing every detail. Was it her ski pole? A piece of the gate?

Well, that’s not sure. What’s clear, though, is how close she came to catastrophe. The object that impaled her nearly punctured her abdominal wall and colon—just a millimeter away from a far worse outcome. “Your colon is intact. This is just a hole in your side. That’s fine,” she recalled being told. But in her mind, the words rang hollow. “I’m like, ‘But there’s still a hole in my side and I can’t move.’” Despite the trauma, Shiffrin fought her way back. Was it easy for her?

Mikaela Shiffrin made her return at the slalom event in Courchevel on January 30, finishing 10th. Even now, as she competes at the Alpine World Ski Championships in Austria, she admits that fear lingers. “Sometimes I’ll get a random vision of crashing,” she said. “It might not be the Killington crash; it could be the course in front of me, that I have this random vision that I’m in the nets again and something else is stabbing through me.” The mind, it seems, can be as much of an obstacle as any icy slope. Still, moments of joy exist.

Teaming up with Breezy Johnson in the women’s team combined event brought her a gold medal and, more importantly, a sense of camaraderie she had been missing. “As an individual athlete, you never feel you are doing enough,” she admitted. With 15 World Championship medals, she stands on the brink of history.

One win away from 100 but first Mikaela Shiffrin’s battle with fear

Another podium finish would make her the most decorated skier in World Championship history. But for Shiffrin, it’s no longer just about the records. And perhaps, in this battle between past trauma and future triumphs, healing is the greatest victory of all. Yet, just before the team event, she dropped an update that no one saw coming, leaving fans stunned.

A few weeks back, Mikaela Shiffrin was hopeful that with enough training, she’d be ready to tackle giant slalom again. But as the Alpine Skiing World Championships rolled around, reality hit—she’s just not there yet. Two days after winning gold in the team combined event, Shiffrin announced she won’t be defending her GS title, revealing that she’s been battling PTSD since her brutal crash in November.

Physically, she’s back on the slopes, but mentally? That’s a whole different challenge. The speed, the power, and the commitment to every turn have been blocked. But she’s not about to force it before she’s ready. That doesn’t mean she’s done with GS—just pressing pause. Shiffrin is eyeing a return the weekend after worlds at the World Cup stop in Sestriere, Italy, where two GS races and a slalom are on the schedule.

With 99 World Cup wins, she’s just one victory away from the magic number 100, but she knows pushing through too soon won’t do her any favors. Giving herself time means coming back stronger, and if there’s one thing we know about Shiffrin, it’s that when she returns on her terms, history tends to follow.