Shiffrin flies home for evaluation, Hector suffers season-ending injury

World Cup women’s slalom leader Mikaela Shiffrin was forced to skip today’s GS in Are, Sweden, after suffering an injury to her right knee sustained in a crash while freeskiing on the race slope during warmup. Now the U.S. Ski Team tech ace who recently expanded her competitive repertoire into speed at the Lake Louise super G will head home to the U.S. for further evaluation of what doctors initially believe is an MCL injury and bone bruise.

“I am flying home tomorrow for a complete evaluation,” Shiffrin posted to her Facebook page. “I have at least (an) MCL injury and bone bruising, hopefully no additional injury. Full diagnosis and recovery predictions after (I) see a doctor at home.”

The limited early diagnosis makes Shiffrin a scratch in Sunday’s slalom at Are and pulls her out of the Val d’Isere combined that she was hoping to contest on Dec. 18 in France. It also makes a return in time for the post-Christmas technical races in Lienz, Austria, on Dec. 28-29 highly questionable. The injury, in its reported extent at this point, should likely hold her out of competition for weeks but not months barring any complicating details.

Swede Sara Hector’s diagnosis following a dicey recovery that forced her to pull out of the Are GS mid-run and ride in a sled down the hill is less fortunate. Although she did not suffer any ligament damage, she did sustain a season-ending left knee injury and will require reconstructive surgery on the cartilage behind her patella.

“This is a serious injury with a long rehab process and Sara will need to undergo surgery in the next few days,” said national team doctor Per Liljeholm. “There is no ligament damage, no bone bruises, and nothing indicates that the kneecap (patella) was dislocated, so this was a completely isolated injury.”

Hector is expected to undergo a minimum rehabilitation period of six months which rules her out for the remainder of the 2015-16 competition season.