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Two-time Olympic gold medalist Mikaela Shiffrin is recovering well after last year's ski crash, but it wasn't a smooth ride. Shiffrin recently opened up about her experiences with post-traumatic stress disorder after her serious accident in November.

Shiffrin, 30, suffered a puncture to her abdomen on Nov. 30 during a giant slalom race at the FIS World Cup in Killington, Vermont. The accident caused severe damage to her oblique muscle. She was leading the race when a tumble flipped her over her skis, causing Shiffrin to crash into two gates.

"It's honestly kind of difficult to explain what the pain felt like," Shiffrin wrote in The Players' Tribune. "But the closest I can get would probably be, it was like... not only was there a knife stabbing me, but the knife was actually still inside of me." 

The physical hurdles were difficult to overcome, but the mental struggles were equally gruelling. Shiffrin admits she's suffering from PTSD, which impacts her self-confidence. She returned to the World Cup circuit on Jan. 30 but skipped the giant slalom event.

"I can admit that there were some extremely low moments," Shiffrin wrote. "Times when I started second-guessing myself, or was critical of myself because I felt like I was letting what happened mess with me so much. It was like: Come on, Mikaela, people have had way worse crashes than that, way worse injuries. Those people got through it. What is wrong with you?

"On particularly bad days, I'd question my motivation, or whether I still wanted to do this anymore. In my head, I'd be saying to myself: You know what, I kind of couldn't care less if I ever race again."

Shiffrin is actively working with a psychologist to overcome her anxieties. Through working with a professional, Shiffrin has drawn connections between her recent crash and other factors: a separate crash in early 2024, her fiancé Aleksandar Aamodt Kilde's serious ski crash in January 2024, and her father's passing in a home accident five years ago.

"Maybe when I crashed and got that puncture wound, maybe that was kind of a perfect-storm situation for PTSD to take hold.

Shiffrin emphasized that hope isn't lost. The winningest World Cup apline skiier, among women or men, is "getting back to a place of joy."

"All I can do is smile with appreciation," she wrote. "Because, finally.... I feel like myself again."