Mikaela Shiffrin has withdrawn from the defence of her giant slalom world title with the American skier still dealing with the “mental obstacles” and “PTSD” caused by a nasty crash in November.
Shiffrin had been chasing a 100th World Cup win on home slopes in Vermont when she fell, colliding with two gates and sliding into the fence.
The 29-year-old avoided severe broken bones but suffered a puncture wound in her abdomen, and spent two months away from competitive skiing.
She made her return in Courchevel with a 10th-placed finish in the slalom on 30 January with hope of adding to her record tally of 16 gold medals at the World Championships in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austria.
But while still intending to race the slalom on Saturday and the new team combined event at the Worlds on Tuesday, Shiffrin has been forced to pull out of the longer technical event.
"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. "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. 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."
Shiffrin will combine with newly-crowned downhill gold medalist Breezy Johnson in the team combined, with the United States strong contenders to secure at least one medal.
Veteran Lindsey Vonn had campaigned to partner Shiffrin after making a remarkable return to high-level ski racing after coming out of retirement, but the US coaches have elected to instead pair the 40-year-old with AJ Hurt.
Vonn and Shiffrin are the two most successful female World Cup skiers of all time, with 82 and 99 wins respectively.
