Shiffrin's Olympics: 5 Individual Races, No Medals, 3 DNFs
BEIJING (AP), -- It was impossible to know what would happen. Mikaela Shiffrin, too, couldn't have predicted this.
It was difficult to imagine that the American skier would finish 0-5 in individual races at Beijing Olympics. He would leave without any medals and with a best of ninth place.
It was one of the most shocking developments in the 2022 Games. She didn't even finish three of these events, the three she is at her best, Thursday's Alpine combined.
Shiffrin stated, "I'm certain questioning a lot." "I'm really dissatisfied. "And I'm really disappointed."
As one of the most prominent stars in ski racing, or any other sport, she arrived in China. Three Olympic medals, two golds, and a silver. Six world championship golds. Six world championship golds. We had high expectations when we arrived here and things have not gone as planned.
Shiffrin was open and honest about the expectations she had from her fans, coaches and close family members in the months before these races. Shiffrin also spoke openly about the pain and heartache she still feels from her father's accidental death two years ago.
She admitted that she may have been pushing herself too hard and was not allowing her enough room for error in the tick,tock-tick, tick-tick, left-right rhythms of a Slalom. However, she wasn't sure if there was a common denominator to the miscues.
"The pressure's there. It's always there. It's there all the time. "Some days are a bit tighter, but it's still possible ski well. Some days are a bit looser, but it's still possible for me to ski well.
Shiffrin's sub-par performance in the second leg combined was her fifth fastest in the downhill. She is certainly in contention to win a better finish and perhaps even a medal. She had to stay up for at least 50 seconds, which she was unable to do. This allowed her to reach the bottom of the slope with light snow.
After about 10 gates, 10 seconds, trouble struck. She lost her balance and could not regain her balance. She ended up on her hip.
Shiffrin sat in the snow for a while. She rose and looked up at the hill as if trying to find out what went wrong.
Later, Shiffrin sent course reports to Americans that warned of a rut down the slope. This could have been the cause of Thursday's issue.
She mentioned this as one of many factors that may have contributed to the problems she faced over the past 1/2 week: logistical difficulties of an Olympics amid a pandemic; late-December bouts of COVID-19 which kept her off her skis 10 days; and icy, artificial snow that several racers found to be different to what they are used to in Europe.
It didn't sound like you were offering excuses. It sounded like you were searching for answers, just like everyone else.
Shiffrin stated that she could picture people thinking back to the combined slalom section: "This could just the medal that saves everything."
Instead, she replied, "I just feel like an idiot."
Shiffrin sent two tweets on Thursday night -- one with harsh words that appeared to have come from social media and the other with her response "to those who have so much apparent hatred."
Her series of miscues was as difficult for her as any other person to believe.
Shiffrin stated, "Beyond leaving the Games without any medals -- no individual Medals -- the worst thing is that I had multiple chances to ski slalom this track," and "and I, well you know, failed at all of them."
It was very similar to the results of her first runs in each of her two first races, the two-leg giantslalom and the two leg slalom. These were also not completed by her, which was remarkable considering she had won golds in both the two-leg giant slalom and the two-leg slalom at previous Olympics. She is also praised for her excellent skills and unmatched ability to complete courses.
Her first appearance in over four years was the "Did not Finish" next to her name in the Beijing GS result sheet. She has won 47 World Cup slaloms in her career, more than any other racer.
Shiffrin was also ninth in super-G and 18th downhill, making it her Olympic debut in both.
She plans to enter Saturday's team event, once the Alpine schedule is over.
"She's human, she's just like us. She is allowed to have a 'DNF' without it being a huge ordeal. Ski racing is fast and anything can go wrong in a split second. It's how it is. There are too many elements, and it's impossible to be perfect all the time," Bella Wright, a U.S. teammate, said. She also couldn't complete the combined slalom. It's very unfortunate, and I feel terrible for her. But she's fine. She is fine."
