Mikaela Shiffrin, newly acclaimed giant slalom gold medalist of team US, announced that she will not be competing in the Super G skiing event on Saturday at the Winter Olympics. “It might’ve been a little bit of me trying to make an excuse”, she explained.
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Sure was. And sure did. There might have been millions of American fans back home cheering for the 22-year-old EagleVail skier as they watched on television.
A day after winning gold in giant slalom, Mikaela Shiffrin came in fourth place in her attempt to become the first slalom repeat gold victor in Olympic history.
– Austrian Matthias Mayer won the men’s super-G to break Norway’s 16-year grip on the title.
“She will have raced and trained – or tried to race – for six days in a row”, Eileen Shiffrin told USA Today. “I beat myself in the wrong way today”, Shiffrin admitted. The medal ceremony didn’t start until about 8 p.m., and she didn’t get to bed until 10 p.m., which, she said, is late for her these days. “To come to the Olympics after some tough races on the World Cup circuit and to charge like that – I risked it on the second run – it’s super-cool”.
As well she should be. Coming into Friday’s event, Shiffrin had reached the podium in 33 of her last 35 slalom races, 29 of which were wins.
She was the season World Cup victor in slalom in 2006 and had won slalom silver in the 2015 World Championships in Beaver Creek. Downhill and super-G are known as the speed events, while GS and slalom are the technical disciplines. Her two gold medals show she’s not afraid of this stage. “Maybe, ‘” said her father, Jeff. In the start gate, “my biggest moments were, ‘Just go for it, you have nothing to lose”.
Also competing for Team USA in the women’s slalom, Megan McJames finished 36th, and Alice Merryweather, who is normally a speed skier, was thrilled to finish two runs in her first Olympic race. Shiffrin was just eight-hundreths of a second back with a time of 1:39.03.
“I liked seeing Shaun White make a comeback and win the gold medal in snowboarding”, Deckard said.
But she wasn’t the only one: Her first run was second-fastest; her other was fourth-fastest. “Get what I call the inner climate into a good place emotionally”.
Despite PyeongChang being her fourth Winter Olympics, 32-year-old Jacobellis has only earned one silver Olympic medal. “She’s so in there and she can do it better than us”.
That last part is key to appreciating the way Shiffrin regrouped and performed in a race originally slated for Monday.
“I’ve been skiing aggressively in slalom all season long”. It was less about her legs and more about what had taken place between her ears. On any given race day, a dizzying array of variables may come into play: weather, light, snow, wind, wax and more.
She had just experienced the wildest 24 hours a headlining Olympian can have. With the second-fastest time in both runs, Hansdotter claimed the top spot with only one skier to go. I’m not that far off. A slight bobble near the end, and Shiffrin crossed in 2:20.02 – the big scoreboard reading “1”, Mowinckel now on the next line down in 2:20.41, Brignone third in 2:20.48.
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Only briefly, though. There is more work to be done.
