The scary incident happened when Shiffrin -- who holds the record with 95 World Cup wins -- was going at high speeds down the Olympia delle Tofane course in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy.

In footage of the run, Shiffrin is shown losing control while attempting to land a jump about 20 seconds into her race ... ultimately crashing into the safety barriers.

The 28-year-old was transported to a nearby hospital via medical helicopter to evaluate her leg injury ... and it sounds like she escaped the incident without any serious issue.

U.S. team coach Paul Kristofic spoke about MS' status with the AP ... saying, "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."

Shiffrin thanked her fans for showing love after her crash ... and gave her team a shout-out for finishing top 20 in the race.

"Thank you everyone for your support and well wishes. At this point I’m just taking it day by day, and I’ll share more information or updates as I know more," Shiffrin said on Instagram.

"Very thankful it’s not worse, but I’m pretty sore at the moment."

Shiffrin will sit out Saturday and Sunday's downhill events in Cortina ... and her return to the slopes is unknown at this time.

"I won’t be skiing the rest of this weekend, and I won’t be skiing in Kronplatz," Shiffrin said.

"Beyond that, it’s quite hard to say right now. Need a little time to process with my team and see how everything is feeling in the coming days! Thank you all!🙏"

The crash comes shortly after Shiffrin's boyfriend -- Norweigan skier Aleksander Kilde -- had a brutal tumble at a World Cup event ... resulting in multiple injuries and an urgent surgery.