Mikaela Shiffrin’s injury on November 29th during the World Cup in Vermont was a real gut-punch for fans. While racing in the giant slalom event at the Stifel Killington Cup, an unknown object punctured her abdomen, sending her straight to the hospital. She’d been chasing her 100th World Cup victory—until disaster struck. During her final run, she crashed through two gates into the safety net, leaving everyone on edge as they awaited updates.

On December 3rd, Mikaela Shiffrin updated her followers on X (formerly Twitter), confirming she was impaled “just like Olaf” from Frozen, suffering a puncture wound and muscular trauma. The next day, she gave fans another update from her couch on Instagram, penning an emotional note of relief as she settled back into her bed.

The decorated skier shared she’d gone straight to the hospital for a check-up on her colon, but thankfully, all was well. In her Instagram caption, she wrote, “A little update…technically it’s day 4, but who’s counting?! (🙋‍♀️) It’s so nice to be back home and in my own bed, feeling a bit more human now 😅, but I unfortunately won’t be ready to race at @bcworldcup this year, which I was really looking forward to…instead I’ll look forward to cheering on my teammates!🫶 ” In the video, she added, “There were some air bubbles where the puncture came like pretty close to the colon, and last night’s check confirmed that my colon is indeed intact.”

While the injury was serious, it didn’t affect her colon, which was a huge relief. But Mikaela Shiffrin didn’t sugarcoat the damage to her muscles. “As far as the muscle trauma goes, there’s the puncture, and then basically whatever was stabbed in there did a little dancey dance inside of my obliques and basically tore a cavern into my oblique muscles, so that’s what’s causing bleeding and inflammation and just pain in general.” Despite the pain, Mikaela Shiffrin confirmed that after five days of recovery, she was beginning to feel like herself again.

While she’s making progress, there’s no set timeline for her return. She’s officially out of the next FIS Ski World Cup event, including the Birds of Prey in Beaver Creek. “This is another fairly ambiguous injury and really hard to put a timeline of when I’ll be either back on snow or back to racing, but I do know that I will not be starting in Beaver Creek. This is a really big bummer, not to be able to race birds of prey, but on the other hand, I was really lucky, and I’m really looking forward to cheering my teammates on racing Beaver Creek.”

Mikaela Shiffrin wrapped up her post by thanking her fans for their incredible support. While they’ll have to wait a bit longer for her historic 100th victory, the good news is that she’s on the mend. Her fans, undoubtedly relieved to hear she’s recuperating, can take comfort knowing she’s making progress. However, the wait for that historic 100th World Cup win just got a little longer.

The US team will miss Mikaela Shiffrin’s presence at the Birds of Prey Event

Mikaela Shiffrin, one of the best skiers the world has ever seen, is missing from the next Birds of Prey event in Colorado, and let’s just say the US team is probably feeling her absence. It’s tough to imagine anyone stepping into her skis and filling the giant hole she leaves behind. This sentiment was echoed by US Skiing Association CEO Sophie Goldschmidt, who acknowledged the challenge of going forward without Mikaela’s undeniable brilliance.

As Goldschmidt put it, Mikaela has set an incredibly high standard for the sport every time she’s entered the arena. But there’s a silver lining. According to her, the team has been preparing for moments like this with solid development plans. “And, look, we’re seeing some depth. But, again, Mikaela (Shiffrin) is irreplaceable,” she said. So, while the competition will no doubt seize the opportunity to capitalize on her injury, it’ll be fascinating to see how the US squad plans to fill the Shiffrin-sized gap. Fingers crossed they find a way to keep up with the rest of the pack!