It’s just another chapter in a legendary comeback! Mikaela Shiffrin is back—at least physically. But the mental battle is still underway. Just 2½ months after a terrifying crash left her with a deep puncture wound, nearly piercing her colon, she’s pain-free and eager to reclaim her dominance. The mission? A historic 16th world championship medal in slalom. But sometimes, even the best have to hit pause!
And now, sidelined by injury, Shiffrin opened up about the feeling of watching instead of racing. On February 15, Mikaela Shiffrin took to social media, sharing a clip from Moving Right Along (Season 3, Episode 3) with a heartfelt message. “Shoutout to @lauren_macuga for the inspiration, not only at Birds of Prey, but throughout this season! You have been so fun to watch, Cougs,” she wrote. But the video clip had so much more to say!
Sidelined by injury, the two-time Olympic champion reflected on missing the event. She said, “I was so looking forward to competing at Birds of Prey, and obviously, it was a pretty big bummer not to be able to. But then, I was so looking forward to going up and watching my teammates in person, and then I had surgery. But in the end, I watched it on TV.”For now, Shiffrin remains a spectator, but it seems her fire hasn’t faded, even a bit.
And Shiffrin didn’t hold back in praising her inspiration. She made it clear that Lauren Macuga is a name the ski world won’t forget anytime soon. “….she’s just amazing. I mean, she started showing so much consistency and speed last year and kicked off this season with a bang at Birds of Prey,” remarked Shiffrin. And honestly, who would not be excited to watch Macuga?
At just 22, Macuga’s breakthrough season keeps building. Last month, she claimed her first World Cup title in the super-G at St. Anton, Austria. Before that, she dominated two super-Gs at Copper Mountain in December. And she’s no stranger to downhill success either, racking up three top-10 finishes—including a stunning fourth-place run at the legendary Birds of Prey course.
Not only this, at the World Championships in Saalbach on Thursday, she tied for third in the super-G. The moment still feels surreal to her. “I keep looking back up at that screen and thinking, ‘Wow, my name is there,” Macuga said post the race. Given Macuga’s incredible rise, it’s no surprise that Shiffrin is singing her praises. But what makes it even more special is the way Macuga’s success has struck a chord with the legendary skier.
“I had these flashbacks of when I was five or six years old, watching my favorite athletes compete on that track. And all of a sudden, she was those athletes. I felt like a little five-year-old watching her, thinking, Oh my god, I want to get Lauren Masuka’s autograph. I don’t know—it just kind of gives me shivers. Now, she has her first World Cup win. Yeah, pretty cool,” said Shiffrin. Coming from one of the greatest skiers of all time, that’s more than just a compliment—it’s a passing of the torch.
And as the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships 2025 approaches, Mikaela Shiffrin isn’t just battling for another title—she’s facing something far deeper. Ahead of the Women’s slalom competition, the ski icon opened up about her struggle with post-traumatic stress disorder.
Mikaela Shiffrin’s mental health concerns
There’s no playbook for overcoming an emotional hurdle—no set timeline for healing. Every ski racer processes trauma in their own way, whether it’s a torn ACL, a fractured bone, or something far worse. For Mikaela Shiffrin, the scars run deeper than just the physical. After a brutal fall in a giant slalom race on Nov. 30, where something punctured her side and severely damaged her oblique muscles, she’s now facing a different kind of battle: PTSD! And it doesn’t fade overnight!
However, Shiffrin knows pain—she’s battled through it before. But this time, there’s a silver lining. “It doesn’t still hurt. And that’s a lovely thing about muscles: as they heal, the pain does go away. It’s different from ligaments and knees and things you have to deal with for quite a long time after. The rest of my body hurts because I’m not really used to skiing still,” she admitted, as reported by AP News on 13th February. The physical wounds may have faded, but the road back to peak form is still a work in progress.
Shiffrin may have had little racing in her legs, but that didn’t stop her from making history. She stormed and achieved the 3rd fastest slalom run in the WC combined event, just 0.39 seconds behind Switzerland’s Wendy Holdener, setting the stage for an epic showdown on Saturday. With it, Shiffrin tied the all-time world championship medal record set by German great Christl Cranz in the 1930s, earning her 15th career medal at WC. Even more impressive? It marked her sixth gold in the prestigious non-Olympic competition.
Safe to say, for Shiffrin, slalom felt like home—unlike the giant slalom, which carried the weight of past trauma. So when the team combined event rolled around, she tackled the slalom. And the result? Pure victory. Hope we will see her break more records as she overcomes trauma, inspiring young minds along the way.
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