'The ACL and PCL seem intact' - Mikaela Shiffrin's team give reassurances after dramatic crash as Stephanie Venier wins

Stephanie Venier sealed her first World Cup victory of the season in Friday's downhill race at Cortina, but the headlines belonged to Mikaela Shiffrin for the wrong reasons. The 95-time World Cup race winner was all involved in a nasty-looking collision into the safety net, and took a huge tumble. Shiffrin's team have since indicated the injury is not as bad as perhaps first feared.

Stephanie Venier claimed her first World Cup victory of the season while Mikaela Shiffrin crashed out on a dramatic start to the weekend in Cortina.

Shiffrin slammed into the safety net after a heavy fall attempting to land a jump during the downhill and was helped off the course, with her manager Megan Harrod saying: "She's up. I don't have any other information."

The American's team later gave an update to NBC Sports and said Shiffrin "was taken by ambulance to the clinic in Cortina and is being evaluated for a left leg injury.

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“Initial analysis shows the ACL and PCL seem intact. Further details to come.”

When US women's Apline skiing head coach Paul Kristofic spoke to the Associated Press, he sounded positive, but said she would miss the rest of the weekend's action.

“She’s actually quite good,” he said. "She’s positive and in a certain way relieved. Because it could have been worse. But she’s pretty sore, as you are for most speed crashes. But she was quite upbeat about things.”

However, he was unsure when she might return to the slopes, adding: "We’re just going to go day by day at this point and treat what we’ve got and try to get her back up to speed."

Shiffrin gave an update to her team-mates on WhatsApp reassuring them of her condition, according to U.S. Ski and Snowboard.

She said: “It’s all ok ladies, surface is money, you got this!”

The American is the latest high-profile skier to suffer a damaging fall on the World Cup circuit.

Her boyfriend, Aleksander Aamodt Kilde, recently suffered season-ending injuries after a horror crash in Wengen, while Alexis Pinturault and Petra Vlhova have also seen their campaigns brought to a premature close by injuries.

Federica Brignone joined Shiffrin in crashing in Cortina, while Olympic champion Corinne Suter pulled up midway through her run with a knee injury.

Meanwhile, Brignone was able to get up and complete her run.

Highlights: Venier takes victory over Gut-Behrami and Grenier on dramatic day

Among the others who stayed on course, Venier came out on top for her second career World Cup triumph, just a day shy of the fifth anniversary of her first.

The Austrian came home in 1:33.06, putting her nearly four-tenths of a second clear of runner-up Lara Gut-Behrami.

• Strasser clinches slalom victory in Austria as Feller finishes fifth on home

A rare three-way tie for third saw Valerie Grenier, Christina Ager and Sofia Goggia each stop the clock in 1:33.77.

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