SAALBACH-HINTERGLEMM, Austria — Mikaela Shiffrin says she is dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder following a crash in November and will not defend her gold medal in giant slalom at the Alpine skiing world championships.
The American holder of a record 99 World Cup wins suffered a deep puncture wound when she fell in a giant slalom race on Nov. 30 in Killington, Vermont, causing severe trauma to her oblique muscles
“I’m currently working through some mental obstacles in order to return to the GS start with the intensity required for racing,” Shiffrin said on Instagram on Monday. “Honestly, I really didn’t anticipate experiencing so much of this kind of mental/PTSD struggle in GS from my injury in Killington.
“I tried diving into the challenge, hoping to get there by worlds,” Shiffrin added. “I figured my passion and longing to compete would outweigh the mental barriers. Maybe that will be the case over time, but I’m not there yet. Coming to terms with how much fear I have doing an event that I loved so dearly only 2 months ago has been soul-crushing.”
The women’s giant slalom is scheduled for Thursday.
Shiffrin returned to action last month when she placed 10th in a slalom in Courchevel, France, and is still planning to race the slalom — her best event — at worlds on Saturday.
After abandoning the giant slalom, Shiffrin will enter the new team combined event at worlds on Tuesday and will pair with freshly crowned downhill gold medalist Breezy Johnson.
The combined event entails one racer competing in a downhill run and another in a slalom run, with their two times added up to determine the final results.
The other U.S. teams for the event are super-G bronze medalist Lauren Macuga and Paula Moltzan; Lindsey Vonn and AJ Hurt; and Jacqueline Wiles and Katie Hensien.
Vonn had campaigned to race with Shiffrin in a “dream team” featuring the two most successful female World Cup skiers of all time. But the U.S. coaching staff selected the pairings based on the results in Saturday’s downhill and the slalom rankings.
“Breezy and I have been racing together since we were 11. We were at Whistler Cup and Topolino together,” Shiffrin said, referring to two prestigious junior events. “We’ve been roommates, competitors, friends. … It will be so, so cool to bring this full circle.”
Johnson recently returned from a 14-month ban for three “whereabouts” violations in anti-doping protocol.
“She knows the mental challenges of this sport better than anyone,” Shiffrin said. “She has fought tooth and nail to get here, and now she is world champion … her journey and grit and determination has inspired the heck out of me.”
