Two-time alpine skiing Olympic champion Michelle Gisin was set to undergo cervical spine surgery later on Thursday after a heavy training crash in downhill training in her native Switzerland.
Swiss Ski said in a statement that Gisin also suffered wrist and knee injuries when she lost control ahead of a left turn and crashed into safety nettings in training for the World Cup downhill in St Moritz earlier in the day.
Gisin was airlifted to a hospital in Zurich where the operation was set to take place.
“Michelle Gisin is doing well under the circumstances; the Obwalden native can move her arms and legs normally,” Swiss Ski said.
“Further examinations and treatment of her right wrist and left knee can only be carried out once her cervical spine has been stabilised.”
Gisin won alpine combined Olympic gold in 2018 and 2022, when she also won super-G bronze.
Gisin is the third injured Swiss 2022 gold medallist ahead of the Olympics in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo which open on February 6, 2026.
Olympic super-g champion Lara Gut-Behrami is out for the seasonb with a cruciate ligament rupture. Downhill gold medallist Corinne Suter is out for several weeks after suffering a lower leg injury in another St Moritz training crash.
The first two downhills of the women’s season are scheduled for Friday and Saturday in St Moritz, and a super-g for Sunday.
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