Friday night at the Milano Ice Skating Arena was supposed to close out the short track speedskating program at the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics on a high. What happened instead stopped the competition cold.
Polish speedskater Kamila Sellier went down during the women's 1500m quarterfinals after an accidental collision left her with a blade wound near her left eye. The arena fell silent as medical staff rushed onto the ice. She was later transported to a hospital following on-site treatment and, according to BBC Sport, subsequently underwent facial surgery.
It was the final night of short track competition at the games, and the evening ended on a note nobody in that building was expecting.
According to People and NBC New York, Sellier went down during the heat, and in the crash that followed, American skater Kristen Santos-Griswold's blade struck her in the face near her left eye. Sellier then collided with Italian skater Ariana Fontana. The contact was described across major outlets as accidental, with no suggestion of intent on anyone's part.
The race was halted seconds after the collision. Medical personnel treated Sellier on the ice beneath a privacy sheet, where she received stitches before being moved to a stretcher and taken to a hospital for further evaluation, including X-rays. A blood trail left on the surface was cleaned before competition resumed.
Polish officials confirmed there was no serious damage to her eye.
One Gesture That Answered the Loudest Question
As Sellier was being taken off the ice, she raised her thumb. That single gesture carried the immediate reassurance that the arena and viewers at home needed most: she was conscious and responsive.
The decision to treat Sellier on site before transport reflected how the medical response unfolded in real time. The privacy sheet shielded her from cameras while stitches were administered, a detail that several outlets noted specifically. BBC Sport subsequently reported that she underwent facial surgery and is recovering.
The Sun speculated about a possible broken cheekbone, though a fracture has not been universally confirmed across reports.
By the time she left the arena, alert and signaling to those around her, the most urgent question about her vision had already been answered by Polish officials.
What the Penalty Ruling and Race Results Showed
The quarterfinal resumed after the ice was cleaned, but Santos-Griswold did not advance with it. NBC and other outlets confirmed she was disqualified for an illegal lane pass, the maneuver that led directly to the crash. The ruling ended her night and clarified what earlier reports had left open regarding race decisions following the incident.
Ariana Fontana, who was also caught up in the collision, advanced to the semifinals after finishing second in the restarted heat behind Belgium's Hanne Desmet, who won the quarterfinal. CBC reporter Devin Heroux noted during coverage that after two weeks of blades cutting into the shared short track and figure skating venue, the ice did not appear to be holding up on the final night of competition.
That observation reflects Heroux's reported assessment and has not been confirmed or disputed by official sources or venue management.
A Sport That Asks a Lot, Every Single Race
Short track speedskating places athletes in close proximity at high speeds, with outcomes sometimes decided by the smallest margins. Crashes are part of the documented history of the sport at every level of competition, and blade injuries, while not routine, are an acknowledged risk within the field.
What made Friday's incident stand out beyond the injury itself was the sequence: the on-site treatment, the stretcher exit, the visible evidence left on the surface, the disqualification ruling, and then the restart of competition once conditions allowed.
Sellier's thumbs-up from the stretcher circulated widely and became the image most associated with the story in early reporting. It stood apart from the clinical details because it was, in the context of what had just happened on that ice, an active communication from an athlete in a difficult moment.
BBC Sport's confirmation of facial surgery added weight to what the X-rays and on-site treatment had already suggested: the injury was significant, even as her condition is reported as stable and her eye unaffected.
Short track speedskating has always carried visible risk alongside its appeal, and incidents like this tend to prompt renewed conversation about athlete safety protocols at major competitions. Whether this unfortunate incident factors into any official review remains an open question.
The sport's governing body had not released a public statement on the incident as of available reporting. What is confirmed is that Sellier is recovering, that the disqualification ruling has been issued, and that the competition she left on a stretcher continued without her.