American skier Mikaela Shiffrin in action. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
Twice Olympic champion Mikaela Shiffrin was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after a grisly crash during a giant slalom race in Killington, Vermont, in November left her with a puncture wound in her abdomen and severe muscle damage.
The American wrapped up her season in March with a record-extending 101st World Cup win but wrote in the Players' Tribune on Friday that the crash in Killington - and another suffered at the beginning of 2024 in Cortina - took a mental toll.
"Those two crashes maybe built on one another. I talked with my therapist about that, and she let me know that past trauma, or a history of traumatic events, can sometimes affect your reaction to new traumatic events," wrote Shiffrin, who lost her father suddenly in an accident in 2020.
"Maybe when I crashed and got that puncture wound, maybe that was kind of a perfect-storm situation for PTSD to take hold.
"But who knows, really. With all this stuff, there's just a tonne of nuance, and so much that we don't know for certain."
Mikaela Shiffrin speaks out about PTSD. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
Shiffrin, who is loved by American fans and praised by her fellow athletes for her upbeat attitude and resilience, said that getting back in the starting gate has helped the most in overcoming "the visions and the images I kept seeing".
She wrote that after putting in the work on her mental health, she felt like herself again.
"It was just continuing to get back up to the start gate. Just literally the process of going up the mountain and doing the thing I know how to do, again and again," wrote Shiffrin.
"I just needed to keep doing it. Needed to keep reminding myself - proving to myself, really - that the vast majority of times when I am training or racing... nothing terrible happens."
- Reuters
