Olympic medalist Katharina Liensberger suffers serious knee injuries in training crash

By: The Associated Press Posted: 10:44 AM CST Friday, Jan. 2, 2026

ST. MICHAEL, Austria (AP) — Olympic slalom silver medalist Katharina Liensberger of Austria sustained serious knee injuries in a crash in training that effectively ends her season, skiing’s governing body said on Friday.

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The International Ski and Snowboard Federation said the 28-year-old slalom specialist sustained a fracture of the tibial plateau — where the shin bone meets the knee — along with a meniscus tear and a medial collateral ligament injury in her right knee.

It said the fall occurred during a giant slalom training in St. Michael, Austria ahead of the weekend’s World Cup races in Kranjska Gora, Slovenia.

Austria's Katharina Liensberger speeds down the course during an alpine ski, women's World Cup slalom in Semmering, Austria, Sunday, Dec. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Pier Marco Tacca)

FIS said Liensberger was due to undergo surgery on Friday and wished her a successful recovery from the injuries that rule her out of the Winter Olympics in Italy next month, where she won two world titles five years ago.

It leaves Mikaela Shiffrin without one of her main rivals in slalom at the Milan Cortina Winter Games, and is the latest training crash involving a top skier.

Three of Switzerland’s reigning Olympic champions have also been injured in training recently; Michelle Gisin, Lara Gut-Behrami and Corinne Suter.

At the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing, Liensberger won gold in the team event for Austria and individual silver in the slalom. She became the world slalom and parallel event champion the previous year in Cortina D’Ampezzo.

She finished fourth in her last World Cup slalom in Semmering, Austria on Sunday.