Mikaela Shiffrin is not expected to return to the Alpine skiing World Cup before the penultimate technical races of the season in Jasna, Slovakia, from March 5-6 after recent medical tests revealed she suffered a bone fracture and not just a bruise, in addition to her right MCL tear, in a Dec. 12 crash.
“Due to the small fracture she had she will go on the safe side and let that heal fully before going on snow,” her agent said in an email Monday, confirming Austrian reports. “Jasna is very possible.”
If she is out until March, Shiffrin has no chance of winning a fourth straight World Cup season slalom title.
Shiffrin, 20 and the youngest Olympic slalom champion, suffered the right knee injury in a Dec. 12 warm-up crash.
Shiffrin, who did not require surgery, said three days after the crash that a return this season was “unlikely,” according to the Denver Post.
Two weeks ago, buoyed by promising rehab, Shiffrin said she expected to race again this season and that her original timetable given to her in mid-December was a four-to-12-week absence.
The World Cup slalom standings leader, Frida Hansdotter of Sweden, is 305 points ahead of Shiffrin through seven of 11 scheduled races.
Winners receive 100 points per race, so Shiffrin is mathetmatically eliminated from contention for the season title if she will miss the next two slaloms.
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