Mikaela Shiffrin will not race during this weekend's World Cup in Soldeu, Andorra as she needs more time to recover from the knee injury she sustained during a downhill race two weeks ago in Italy, the American skier said on Wednesday.
Shiffrin, owner of a record 95 World Cup wins, was airlifted away following a high-speed crash on the same piste that will be home to the women's downhill at the Milan-Cortina 2026 Olympics and said her knee cannot handle the load of racing just yet.
"I just need a bit more time to heal and re-condition," Shiffrin wrote in an Instagram post. "As I've mentioned, there was no major ligament damage and the structure within the joint of my knee looks good."
The 28-year-old Shiffrin said she is managing a medial collateral ligament sprain, a sprain of the tibial-fibular ligaments, as well as a bone bruise from earlier in the season.
"I took a ton of stress to my whole leg when I crashed and stretched a bunch of things that are continuing to cause pain, although that is improving every day!" Shiffrin wrote.
"The fact that everything is structurally intact is super positive, but I still need to be patient... I am in this for the long haul and want to ensure my knee is strong and I am fully capable of powerful skiing when I return to the start gate."
Shiffrin also supported longtime partner Aleksander Aamodt Kilde's call for better World Cup race-day schedules to help protect athletes from injuries.
Norwegian skier Kilde, who suffered a horrific crash during a World Cup race on the Lauberhorn course in Wengen last month, said a packed calendar and extended daily programmes were contributing to an unsafe environment for athletes, a stance Shiffrin echoed.
"It's pretty hard to put into words what the actual demands are like for athletes who are in the top 15 in multiple disciplines and consistently on the podium," said Shiffrin.
"It's really too much. I absolutely believe that fatigue at this point in the season plays a roll in the injuries we have seen lately, including my own." REUTERS
