Mikaela Shiffrin’s chances of winning her fourth Olympic Winter Games just got a little clearer, but for her biggest rival, it’s a nightmare. Austria’s Katharina Liensberger, who gave Shiffrin a tough fight in last year’s World Cup slalom in Sweden, won’t be competing in the upcoming Winter Olympics after a serious training accident.

Liensberger, who won silver in slalom at the 2022 Beijing Olympics, injured her right knee during a giant slalom training session in St. Michael, Austria. As a result, she suffered a fractured tibial plateau (where the shin bone meets the knee), a torn meniscus, and a medial collateral ligament injury.

She was rushed to a clinic in Hochrum, Austria, soon after. FIS confirmed that Liensberger underwent surgery on Friday, ending her season and ruling her out of the Milano-Cortina Olympics starting next month, where she had won two world titles five years ago.

This is a huge blow for Liensberger, who has been one of the few athletes capable of consistently challenging Mikaela Shiffrin on the slopes. But Austria isn’t alone in its suffering.

Switzerland has also been hit by injuries, including Michelle Gisin, Lara Gut-Behrami, and Corinne Suter. With so many top racers out, the field at Milano-Cortina will be significantly shallower, making this year’s Games a bit unpredictable in both slalom and giant slalom.

For Liensberger, it’s time to focus on recovery. For Mikaela Shiffrin, it could be a golden opportunity.

Katharina Liensberger and Mikaela Shiffrin’s rivalry that began five years ago

If Katharina Liensberger had been healthy, she could have posed Mikaela Shiffrin’s toughest challenge yet at the Winter Olympics. The 2021 World Cup slalom overall champion and world champion hasn’t reached the podium this season, but she’s been competitive, taking four top 10 finishes.

At the 2022 Beijing Olympics, Liensberger showed her Olympic pedigree with slalom silver, losing gold to Slovakia’s Petra Vlhova by just eight hundredths of a second. She also contributed to Austria’s Team Event gold with Katharina Truppe, Stefan Brennsteiner and Johannes Strolz.

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The rivalry between Liensberger and Mikaela Shiffrin goes back several years. At the 2021 World Championships in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Liensberger claimed one of the biggest wins of her career, taking slalom gold and ending Shiffrin’s streak of four consecutive world championship slalom titles. Shiffrin fought back with a strong second run to finish bronze, but she was nearly two seconds behind Liensberger.

Their clashes have continued in the World Cup. In the 2024-25 season, Liensberger finished second in Åre, Sweden, with Shiffrin just behind in third, a race where Shiffrin also broke the all-time World Cup podium record with her 156th top-three finish.

And then, in December 2025 at the Semmering World Cup slalom, Mikaela Shiffrin won again, while Liensberger finished in the top five.

Liensberger’s absence now leaves a gap at the top of women’s slalom. For Mikaela Shiffrin, it strengthens her path toward another Olympic medal, but fans will miss seeing these two athletes push each other to their limits.