Mikaela Shiffrin suffers abrasion on hip during crash on final run of World Cup giant slalom

KILLINGTON, Vt. (AP) — American skier Mikaela Shiffrin said she suffered an abrasion on her left hip and that something “stabbed” her when she crashed during her second run of a World Cup giant slalom race Saturday, doing a flip and sliding into the protective fencing.

Shiffrin stayed down on the edge of the course for quite some time as the ski patrol attended to her. She was taken off the hill on a sled and waved to the cheering crowd before going to a clinic for evaluation.

“Not really too much cause for concern at this point, I just can’t move,” she said later in a video posted on social media. “I have a pretty good abrasion and something stabbed me. ... I’m so sorry to scare everybody. It looks like all scans so far are clear.”

She plans to skip the slalom race Sunday, writing on Instagram she will be “cheering from the sideline.”

The 29-year-old was leading after the first run of the GS and charging for her 100th World Cup win. She was within sight of the finish line, five gates onto Killington’s steep finish pitch, when she an outside edge. She hit a gate and did a somersault before sliding into another gate. The fencing slowed her momentum as she came to an abrupt stop.

Reigning Olympic GS champion Sara Hector of Sweden won in a combined time of 1 minute, 53.08 seconds. Zrinka Ljutic of Croatia was second and Swiss racer Camille Rast took third. The Americans saw Paula Moltzan and Nina O’Brien finish fifth and sixth.

“It’s just so sad, of course, to see Mikaela crash like that and skiing so well,” Hector said on the broadcast after her win. “It breaks my heart and everybody else here.”

The crash was a surprise for everyone. Shiffrin rarely DNFs — ski racing parlance for “did not finish.” In 274 World Cup starts, she DNF'd only 18 times. The last time she DNF'd in GS was January 2018.

Shiffrin also has not suffered any devastating injuries. In her 14-year career, she has rehabbed only two on-hill injuries: a torn medial collateral ligament and bone bruising in her right knee in December 2015 and a sprained MCL and tibiofibular ligament in her left knee after a downhill crash in January 2024. Neither knee injury required surgery, and both times, Shiffrin was back to racing within two months.

Saturday was shaping up to be a banner day for Shiffrin, who skied flawlessly in the first run and held a 0.32-second lead as she chased after her 100th World Cup win. Shiffrin, who grew up in both New Hampshire and Colorado and sharpened her skills at nearby Burke Mountain Academy, has long been a fan favorite.

Shiffrin is driven not so much by wins but by arcing the perfect run. She has shattered so many records along the way. She passed Lindsey Vonn’s women’s mark of 82 World Cup victories on Jan. 24, 2023, during a giant slalom in Kronplatz, Italy.

That March, Shiffrin broke Swedish great Ingemar Stenmark’s Alpine mark for most World Cup wins when she captured her 87th career race.

To date, she has earned five overall World Cup titles, two Olympic gold medals — along with a silver — and seven world championships.

In other FIS Alpine World Cup news, the Tremblant World Cup — two women’s giant slaloms at Quebec’s Mont-Tremblant scheduled for next weekend — were canceled. Killington got 21 inches of snow on Thanksgiving Day, but Tremblant — five hours north of Killington — had to cancel its races because of a lack of snow.

AP Sports Writer Pat Graham in Denver contributed to this report.

Mikaela Shiffrin, of the United States, crashes during the second run of a women's World Cup giant slalom skiing race, Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024, in Killington, Vt. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

Mikaela Shiffrin, of the United States, is taken down the mountain on a sled by ski patrol after crashing during the second run of a women's World Cup giant slalom skiing race, Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024, in Killington, Vt. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

Mikaela Shiffrin, of the United States, competes during a women's World Cup giant slalom skiing race, Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024, in Killington, Vt. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

Mikaela Shiffrin, of the United States, competes during a women's World Cup giant slalom skiing race, Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024, in Killington, Vt. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

Mikaela Shiffrin, of the United States, competes during a women's World Cup giant slalom skiing race, Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024, in Killington, Vt. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

Mikaela Shiffrin, of the United States, crashes during the second run of a women's World Cup giant slalom skiing race, Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024, in Killington, Vt. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

Mikaela Shiffrin, of the United States, crashes during the second run of a women's World Cup giant slalom skiing race, Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024, in Killington, Vt. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

Mikaela Shiffrin, of the United States, is taken down the mountain on a sled by ski patrol after crashing during the second run of a women's World Cup giant slalom skiing race, Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024, in Killington, Vt. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

Mikaela Shiffrin, of the United States, crashes during the second run of a women's World Cup giant slalom skiing race, Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024, in Killington, Vt. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

DUBLIN (AP) — A marathon vote-counting exercise was underway Saturday in Ireland’s national election after an exit poll suggested that the contest is a close-fought race among the country’s three largest political parties.

Election officials opened ballot boxes at count centers across the country, kicking off what could be several days of tallying the results. If the exit poll is borne out, that could be followed by days or weeks of negotiations to form a coalition government.

The exit poll suggested voters’ support is split widely among the three big parties — Fine Gael, Fianna Fail and Sinn Fein — as well as several smaller parties and an assortment of independents ranging from the left to the far right.

The poll said that center-right party Fine Gael was the first choice of 21% of voters, and another center-right party, Fianna Fail, of 19.5%. The two parties governed in coalition before the election. Left-of-center opposition party Sinn Fein was at 21.1% in the poll.

Pollster Ipsos B&A asked 5,018 voters across the country how they had cast their ballots. The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 1.4 percentage points.

The figures only give an indication and don’t reveal which parties will form the next government. Ireland uses a complex system of proportional representation in which each of the country’s 43 constituencies elects several lawmakers and voters rank candidates in order of preference. As a result, it can take some time for full results to be known.

The cost of living — especially Ireland’s acute housing crisis — was a dominant topic in the three-week campaign, alongside immigration, which has become an emotive and challenging issue in a country of 5.4 million people long defined by emigration.

The result will show whether Ireland bucks the global trend of incumbents being ousted by disgruntled voters after years of pandemic, international instability and cost-of-living pressures.

The outgoing government was led by the two parties that have dominated Irish politics for the past century: Fine Gael and Fianna Fail. They have similar policies, but are longtime rivals with origins on opposing sides of Ireland’s 1920s civil war. After the 2020 election ended in a virtual dead heat, they formed a coalition.

Before polling day, analysts said the most likely outcome was another Fine Gael-Fianna Fail coalition. That remains a likely option. The front-runners to be the next taoiseach, or prime minister, are current Taoiseach Simon Harris of Fine Gael and Fianna Fail leader Micheál Martin — despite their parties’ relatively lackluster showing.

Harris, Martin and Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald all won-re-election to their parliamentary seats in results announced Saturday.

Fine Gael candidate Paschal Donohoe, a minister in the outgoing government, said the main theme of the election was “one of the center holding.”

“The big picture is, at a time in which incumbent governments all over Europe are struggling to get re-elected, the two larger parties within this government, in particular Fine Gael, are going to deliver a very strong performance,” he said at the count center in Dublin.

The two parties would need the support of smaller groups or independents to achieve a majority in the 174-seat Dail, the lower house of Parliament.

The Green Party, which held 12 seats in the last parliament and propped up the governing coalition, acknowledged that it was headed for a disappointing result.

Among a large crop of independent candidates was reputed organized crime boss Gerry “the Monk” Hutch, who has seen a groundswell of support since he was bailed on money-laundering charges in Spain this month in order to run for election. Early results suggested he stood a good chance of winning a seat in Dublin.

Sinn Fein achieved a stunning breakthrough in the 2020 election, topping the popular vote, but was shut out of government because Fianna Fail and Fine Gael refused to work with it, citing its leftist policies and historic ties with the Irish Republican Army during three decades of violence in Northern Ireland.

Though Sinn Fein, which aims to reunite Ireland with the independent Republic of Ireland, could become the largest party in the Dail, it may struggle to get enough coalition partners to form a government. During the election campaign, both Fine Gael and Fianna Fail maintained they wouldn't go into government with it.

A Sinn Fein-led government would shake up Irish politics — and the future of the United Kingdom. The party is already the largest in Northern Ireland, and a Sinn Fein government in the republic would push for a referendum on Irish reunification in the next few years.

Party leader McDonald said that Sinn Fein had “broken the political mold” in Ireland.

“Two-party politics is now gone. It’s consigned to the dustbin of history, and that in itself is very significant," she said as she awaited results at a count center in Dublin. “The question now arises for us, what do we do with that?”

Jill Lawless reported from London.

Taoiseach and Fine Gael leader Simon Harris speaks to the media as he arrives at the election count centre at Shoreline Leisure Greystones in Co Wicklow, after the General Election, Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024. (Niall Carson/PA via AP)

Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin is hoisted up by his sons Cillian and Micheal Aodh, after he was deemed elected in the Cork South Central constituency at the election count centre at Nemo Rangers GAA Club in Cork, after the General Election, Saturday Nov. 30, 2024. (Jacob King/PA via AP)

Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin is hoisted up by his sons Cillian and Micheal Aodh, after he was deemed elected in the Cork South Central constituency at the election count centre at Nemo Rangers GAA Club in Cork, after the General Election, Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024. (Jacob King/PA via AP)

Sinn Fein president Mary Lou McDonald, left, and deputy Michelle O'Neill arrive at the count at RDS Simmonscourt, Dublin after voters went to the polls to elect 174 TDs across 43 constituencies during the General Election, Saturday Nov. 30, 2024. (Brian Lawless/PA via AP)

Irish election posters hang from lampposts in Dublin City centre, Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2024, ahead of Ireland's election on Friday. (AP Photo/Peter Morrison)

Micheal Martin, center, Tanaiste of Ireland and leader of Fianna Fail meets pupils at St Seton's Secondary School in Ballyfermot, Dublin, Ireland, Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Peter Morrison)

Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald speaks to the media during a visit to Liberty Recycling in Dublin, Ireland, Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2024, ahead of Ireland'd election on Friday. (AP Photo/Peter Morrison)

Tanaiste of Ireland and leader of Fianna Fail party Micheal Martin addresses the media as he arrives at the count during the Ireland election, at Nemo Rangers GAA Club in Cork, Ireland, Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024. (Jacob King/PA via AP)

Counting begins for Ireland's General Election at the Royal Dublin Society in Dublin, Ireland, Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Peter Morrison)

Counting begins for Ireland's General Election at the Royal Dublin Society in Dublin, Ireland, Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Peter Morrison)

Counting begins for Ireland's General Election at the Royal Dublin Society in Dublin, Ireland, Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Peter Morrison)

Counting begins for Ireland's General Election at the Royal Dublin Society in Dublin, Ireland, Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Peter Morrison)

Counting begins for Ireland's General Election at the Royal Dublin Society in Dublin, Ireland, Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Peter Morrison)

Minister for Foreign Affairs, and Minister for Defence and Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin arrives to cast his vote at St Anthony's Boys' School, Beechwood Park, Ballinlough, Cork, as voters go to the polls for the 2024 General Election in Ireland, Friday, Nov. 29, 2024. (Jacob King/PA via AP)

Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald, center, speaks to the media outside Government Buildings, on the last day of campaigning on the eve of the General Election, in Dublin, Thursday, Nov. 28, 2024. (Brian Lawless/PA via AP)

Irish Prime Minister and Fine Gael leader Simon Harris speaks to the media after casting his vote at Delgany National School, County Wicklow, as voters go to the polls for the 2024 General Election in Ireland, Friday Nov. 29, 2024. (Niall Carson/PA via AP)

A man casts his vote at a polling station on the Island of Gola as voters go to polls the for the 2024 General Election in Ireland, Friday, Nov. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Peter Morrison)

A man casts his vote in a ballot box on the Island of Gola as voters go to polls the for the 2024 General Election in Ireland, Friday, Nov. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Peter Morrison)