Fans during the giant slalom at the Vendor Village at the Stifel Killington Cup on November 30, 2024 in Killington, Vermont. Photo: @mikelawrencesports // U.S. Ski & Snowboard

KILLINGTON, Vermont — Nearly 40,000 fans turned out for the women’s alpine World Cup races at Killington this weekend, to cheer for the home team headlined by Mikaela Shiffrin, who was vying for her 100th World Cup win.

Shiffrin was leading Saturday’s giant slalom when she caught an edge on the bottom pitch in her second run, slammed through two gates then tumbled into the netting. Somewhere along the way, Shiffrin sustained a puncture would near her lower abdomen, which she told NBC reporters is an injury that will likely keep her out of the upcoming races at Beaver Creek and possibly even longer.

After the crash, the roar of the crowd at Killington went silent and the women who finished in the top three seemed reluctant to proceed with the finish ceremony as ski patrol attended to Shiffrin, who lay in the snow on the side of the course.

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Later, from her hospital bed Shiffrin sent an update to fans via Instagram, where she talked about her injury and congratulated the race winner, Sara Hector of Sweden, and her teammates on bold performances.

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Both Paula Motlzan and Nina O’Brien and had career-best finishes in the giant slalom, landing in 5th and 6th respectively. Elizabeth Bocock, who grew up racing at Snowbird and later attended Rowmark Ski Academy in Salt Lake, had a blazingly fast first run, finishing in 8th place from the 47th start position. In her second run, Bocock slammed her hand into a gate and lost her pole. Amazingly, she had the 4th fastest split time on the bottom section of the course skiing with only one pole. She finished 23rd overall for her first career World Cup points.

In Sunday’s slalom, Moltzan was the only U.S. skier to qualify for a second run, but she crashed in run two separating her shoulder. Her shoulder was immediately reset and is currently stable, with no current need for surgical operation.

Mia Hunt, who grew up in Park City, finished her first-ever World Cup run in front of a home crowd on a difficult course. She now attends Burke Mountain Academy in Vermont.

“The slalom course was really difficult today,” commented O’Brien. “They set a really technical, really tight course. And that, combined with a little bit of changing snow at the top that definitely had some grooves in it by the end when I ran, and a bottom that held up really well but was slick. So I found it pretty difficult, but there were still some impressive runs from the back showing that anything is possible.”

Bocock was slated to start Sunday’s slalom but chose to sit it out after warm-ups proved her wrist injury sustained in Saturday’s giant slalom made blocking gates more painful than she initially anticipated.

Despite the injuries, the women’s alpine team is walking away from the weekend of racing in Killington, feeling positive and looking ahead to the rest of the season. Racing on home soil is always a great way to kick things off for a group that spends the majority of their winter competing in Europe, far from family, friends and the loud and proud American crowd.

“This race is my favorite race on tour for a handful of reasons – A) it’s in Vermont, B) my family can be here, and C) the crowd is unreal,” says Moltzan, who raced at University of Vermont and currently lives in the state. “Every ski racer from bib one to bib 60 receives the biggest welcome into the finish no matter the result, and that’s pretty special because not all World Cups are like that. Getting to cross that finish line and get that big welcome home from Vermont is pretty incredible.”

With the Tremblant World Cup tech series canceled, the next time the women’s alpine team

will hit the slopes will be in Beaver Creek, Colorado, at the Stifel Birds of Prey downhill and super-G, Dec. 14 and 15.