2022 Olympics: Live Updates, Medal Count and Snowboard News

0
Credit…Robert F. Bukaty/Associated Press

When Mikaela Shiffrin, a two-time Olympic champion and the most dominant figure in ski racing for several years, fell on Monday and made an early exit from the women’s giant slalom at the Beijing Olympics, it seemed like an anomaly, a glitch that will happen from steep way steep mountains in slippery conditions.

But on Wednesday, Shiffrin failed to complete a second run and again lasted only a few seconds before skidding off the course. This time it was his best event, the slalom. She ended up on the side of the trail, where she quickly ditched her skis and poles, sat down in the snow, and buried her head between her bent knees. She stayed there for over 20 minutes as her rivals raced by.

Nothing in Shiffrin’s professional career would have presaged such a quick, complete and recurring failure on the biggest stage of his sport. Slalom is ski racing’s most formidable discipline, but for the most decorated slalom skier in history, lasting just five seconds in her best event, and in a consistent Olympic race for which she spent four years prepare, is almost unfathomable.

Credit…Robert F. Bukaty/Associated Press

Shiffrin still has three Olympic races if she chooses to participate, which no longer seems a certainty. After her run on Wednesday, she was shaken and confused. In tears as she spoke to reporters, she made no secret of her grief.

“I’ll try resetting again and maybe try resetting better this time,” she said. “But I don’t know how to do better either, because I don’t know. I’ve never been in this situation before and I don’t know how to go about it.

“If I’m going to ski on the fifth gate, well, what’s the point?”

Petra Vlhova, who has had a bitter rivalry with Shiffrin throughout this season, came back after an erratic first run to win Wednesday’s race and become Slovakia’s first alpine Olympic medalist. Katharina Liensberger of Austria was second 0.08 behind Vlhova and Wendy Holdener of Switzerland won the bronze medal behind Liesnburger by 0.04 of a second.

Shiffrin, who was expected to challenge for multiple gold medals at these Games, struggled in Wednesday’s race almost from the start, with her feet and arms out of sync, her balance shaky and the gates seeming to come towards her more fast than she could react. . She almost fell while going around the fourth door, and while she was still standing, her usually calm demeanor was harassed. Passing the fifth gate, she headed to the side of the trail and knew her run was over. She was disqualified before the sixth gate.

“I was aiming to do my best skiing and my fastest turns,” Shiffrin said. “But to do that, I had to push the line, the tactics. And it’s really at the limit then. And things happen so fast that there was really no room to slip even a little.

Her irregular speech, her pained voice, Shiffrin also explained what she had been thinking as she sat on the edge of the path. She said she was overwhelmed by the feeling of having let herself and others down.

Credit…Doug Mills/The New York Times

“I was trying to look back and think back to the last few days,” she said, “and think about what I tried to do and what I did with my skiing that would suggest that ‘at the fifth gate, I would push myself a little too hard not to be able to stay on the course.

Shiffrin, 26, won the slalom at the 2014 Olympics and has dominated the event since, winning more World Cup slalom races, 47, than any other runner, male or female. She rarely makes mistakes; when she failed to complete a slalom early last month, it was the first time it had happened in nearly four years.

Shiffrin has spent the last few weeks talking at length about all the outside obstacles that could prevent him from having success at these Games. She tested positive for the coronavirus in December and dreaded the logistical issues of arriving in China and the pandemic living protocols at the Olympics.

During her first days at the Games, she often talked about the wind and the randomness of what could happen on a gusty mountain. But none of those factors came into play here. She didn’t mention anything about nerves that might have made her last just 12 gates in two races. She also made no excuses and her attitude on Monday had been optimistic.

All of this was harder to remember on Wednesday.

“It’s not the end of the world,” Shiffrin said, trying to laugh at herself — or maybe trying to convince herself. “And it’s so stupid to care so much. But I feel like I have to question a lot now.

Shiffrin has won three medals at two previous Olympics, but these are the first since the death of his father, Jeff Shiffrin, two years ago. This did not escape her notice as she prepared to leave the racing area on Wednesday.

“Right now, I would really like to call her,” Shiffrin said.

Race 1

Race 2

Time

1

Slovakia

52.89 52.09 1:44.98
2
SUI Flag

Switzerland

53.35 52.40 1:45.75
3
EU flag

Sweden

53.44 52.87 1:46.31

Share.

Comments are closed.