Olympic speed skater rushed to hospital after opponent’s blade slices her face in horror injury
William Morgan
Featured Image Credit: DeFodi Images/Getty
An illegal move during the Women's 1500 meter speed skating quarter final almost saw one of the competitors lose an eye last night, in one of the most terrifying injuries of the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics so far.
Poland's Kamila Sellier was downed by one of her fellow Olympians, Team USA's Kristen Santos-Griswold, whose skate kicked out as she fell during an illegal lane pass, causing her blade to gruesomely slice into Sellier's face.
This illegal pass caused a crash that also took out Italy's 14-time Olympic medallist Arianna Fontana and Santos-Griswald herself, who was penalized for breaking the rules and left out of the short-track skating semifinals.
Footage of the incident at Milano Ice Skating Arena left viewers stunned, with cameras clearly capturing the instant Santos-Griswald's skate hit the 25-year-old Polish skater in the eye and left her bleeding on the ice.
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Slo-mo version of Kamila Sellier taking a skate blade to the eye at the Olympics.
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Slowed down, videos of the bloody incident show Santos-Griswald's skate taking Sellier's glasses clean off her face and immediately cutting into the flesh around her eye.
The race was paused in the aftermath of the crash and Sellier's eye injury, with a white sheet hastily brought out to allow the athletes privacy as medics assessed them.
With blood visibly coming from her eye area, the speed skater gave a thumbs up to the worried crowd as was stretchered off, leaving a trail of blood behind at the rink.
Many watching at home were shocked at the bloody consequence of the US skater's illegal pass, with many pointing out that it was a miracle that Sellier was not blinded in the accident.
One stunned viewer remarked on X: "Man, this Kamila Sellier crash was straight up terrifying to watch. Short track speed skating is already insane with those razor sharp blades flying at 40+ km/h in tight packs, but seeing a blade slice right across her face like that..."
Selliers was immediately taken to hospital, where she underwent emergency surgery.
On Saturday morning in Milan, a spokesperson for Poland's Olympic team announced that the skater had undergone surgery and was recovering, saying: "Kamila had surgery last night.
"She's in good condition. We're waiting for further tests today, to check her eye for any signs of damage."
They also clarified that her eye appeared to be OK after the incident, with the athlete receiving stitches to the affected part of her face.
"She has a cut on her cheek, which was stitched up immediately. From what I saw, most likely her eyelid is also cut, half of it."
Polish speed skating chief Konrad Niedźwiedzki told local media that there are concerns that the accident might have broken Sellier's zygomatic facial bone and shared further insight into her condition.
With doctors reviewing her condition this morning, Niedźwiedzki added: "There is considerable swelling, so it's hard to say at this point what else happened inside.
"I hope these are only superficial wounds, but we have to wait for the test results from the hospital. … There's a huge, large, not to cause panic, large swelling, so it is possible that this is related to the fact that the zygomatic bones has been damaged or broken."