On a frigid November day in 2025, Mikaela Shiffrin, the greatest alpine skier in history, lay crumpled in the safety netting near a stand of pine trees on a giant slalom hill in Killington, Vermont. Moments earlier, she had been carving her way toward a historic milestone—an unprecedented 100th World Cup victory on home soil, where she honed her craft as a child. Instead, a violent crash through a gate sent her tumbling across snow and ice, leaving her motionless and in agony.
Eileen Shiffrin, Mikaela’s mother and lifelong coach, watched from below, her heart sinking. “She didn’t seem like she was moving,” Eileen recalled in a recent interview. “The way she fell, she could have had a neck injury or back injury. I was trying to stay calm.” Karin Harjo, Shiffrin’s head coach, dropped her camera and sprinted up the slope, fearing the worst. A Swiss coach and a ski patroller were already at Shiffrin’s side, with a medic arriving moments later.
The scene was chaos wrapped in silence. Shiffrin, shivering in her paper-thin racing suit, could feel her limbs and had no apparent spinal injury—a relief compared to the catastrophic possibilities. But searing pain radiated through her midsection with every breath and slight movement. Unlike her 2024 crash in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, which sidelined her for six weeks with a knee injury, this was different. “When you have a broken leg, you can see that it’s deformed, so it makes sense in your mind,” Harjo said. “But when somebody is laying on the ground in that kind of pain and there’s not a deformity, no extreme blood, then you really are concerned because there’s something happening inside that you can’t see.”
Harjo, a seasoned coach from Washington State who has witnessed countless crashes, draped jackets over Shiffrin to combat the biting cold. The immediate priority was stabilizing her for transport off the mountain. Medical teams worked swiftly, and Shiffrin was rushed to a nearby hospital for evaluation. Initial scans revealed internal injuries, though specifics were not immediately clear. Unlike visible fractures, the uncertainty of internal trauma heightened the concern for Shiffrin’s team and family.
Shiffrin’s relentless drive and analytical mind—qualities that have fueled her record-breaking career—were sidelined in that moment. “All she could do was feel,” Harjo noted, describing the skier’s vulnerability. Yet, even in pain, Shiffrin’s resilience began to surface. Her history of overcoming setbacks, from the Cortina crash to the emotional toll of her father Jeff’s sudden death in 2020, has forged a steely determination that defines her.
The road to recovery began immediately. Shiffrin’s medical team, led by specialists in sports medicine, crafted a meticulous rehabilitation plan. Unlike her knee injury, which required targeted physical therapy, this recovery demanded a delicate balance: addressing internal injuries while maintaining her elite-level conditioning. “Mikaela’s body is her instrument, and she knows it better than anyone,” said Eileen, who has guided her daughter’s career since she was a toddler. “She’s obsessive about understanding what’s happening and how to come back stronger.”
Physical therapy sessions focused on core stability and gradual movement to avoid aggravating her injuries. Shiffrin, ever the student, dove into the science of her recovery, analyzing medical reports and working closely with her coaches to adapt her training. Harjo emphasized mental conditioning as well, knowing the psychological weight of a crash so close to the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan-Cortina. “She’s not just rebuilding her body—she’s rebuilding her confidence,” Harjo said.
By early 2026, Shiffrin was back on snow, starting with light training runs under Harjo’s watchful eye. Her return to competition is slated for the World Cup circuit in late January, with all eyes on her preparation for Olympic glory. The Killington crash, while a setback, has only sharpened her focus. “Every time I fall, I learn something new about myself,” Shiffrin said in a recent statement. “This is just another chapter.”
For Eileen, watching her daughter’s recovery has been both harrowing and inspiring. “She’s always been the one to get back up,” she said. As Shiffrin eyes the 2026 Olympics, the skiing world waits to see if the greatest ever can add another golden chapter to her legacy—rebuilt, resolute, and ready to race.
