OLYMPIAN Mikaela Shiffrin has revealed how tough her recovery from a horrible crash was.
The two-time Olympic gold medalist took a terrifying fall at a competition last year that left her physically and mentally scarred.
Mikaela Shiffrin is recovering from the mental toll of a horror crash[/caption]
Shiffrin suffered from PTSD after getting a puncture wound during a crash[/caption]
In November of 2024, Shiffrin had a horror crash that left her with a five-centimeter puncture wound just one millimeter away from her colon.
Not only did the crash physically harm her, but it left a lasting impression on her mental health.
“It’s just been a process to recover from that physically, and mentally, more-so than I maybe expected,” Shiffrin told PEOPLE.
“I was having a lot of actual PTSD symptoms.”
Shiffrin’s PTSD symptoms included “flashbacks” and “intrusive thoughts that were pretty challenging.”
She returned to skiing in January, but her PTSD made the comeback especially difficult.
“I’m getting the strength back and just continuing to work and whatnot, and keep working through things,” Shiffrin said.
While she carries the scars from her terrifying crash, Shiffrin still doesn’t quite know how it happened.
“That’s the million-dollar question,” she said.
“I crashed into a gate, and we think that maybe it was either impact or a portion of some part of the gate somehow managed to create the effect of a stab wound and it went right in here.”
Shiffrin said she has been able to return to skiing thanks to a great support system around her.
“I have a lot of support from the team around me, and as an athlete, life trains you to just work through things, so the hardest thing is to be able to stop and say, ‘This is too much, too fast,’” she said.
Shiffrin has plenty of time to continue recovering and training before her next competition.
She is planning to compete at the 2026 Milan-Cortina Olympics in February.
“You never really feel ready for something until the day after it happens,” she said.
Shiffrin is set to compete at the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics[/caption]
“That’s how I feel in most things in life.
“Whatever it is — if it’s a speech, if it’s anything on a stage, or if it’s skiing or racing, it’s like you’re never really ready until the day after it happens.”
Shiffrin has already put together an incredible career on the slopes.
Her accolades include two Olympic gold medals and eight gold medals in the World Championships.
She is the first skier to win gold at five straight World Championships and owns the record for most World Cup wins in alpine skiing with 101.
