Mikaela Shiffrin struggles to explain third DNF at Winter Olympics: 'I don’t understand what’s not working'
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Updated 17/02/2022 at 12:48 GMT
Mikaela Shiffrin was looking to exorcise the demons of two DNF finishes in the slalom and giant slalom at Beijing 2022. Instead, the American was down again on the ‘Ice River’ course, crashing out of contention in the combined as Michelle Gisin defended her Olympic crown. Shiffrin had looked well placed to challenge for gold after finishing fifth after the downhill segment of the event.
‘I don’t have a really good explanation!’ – Shiffrin after third DNF
Mikaela Shiffrin says she cannot explain why she recorded a third DNF of the Winter Olympics as the American added combined heartbreak to her disappointment in the slalom and giant slalom.
Looking to bounce back from her DNFs in the two individual events last week, Shiffrin - who finished the super-G in ninth and the downhill in 18th - was aiming to go past the sixth gate in the slalom segment of the combined event after placing fifth in the downhill on Sofia Goggia’s skis.
The American did indeed make it past the sixth gate – as was her pre-race aim, she admitted before the slalom – but the two-time Olympic champion was down just seconds later to see the prospect of another gold medal slip away.
Michelle Gisin went on to defend her Olympic crown, while Shiffrin was left evaluating another error on the ‘Ice River’ slope at the Yanqing National Alpine Ski Centre.
Shiffrin was relatively chipper when speaking to discovery+ afterwards, initially replying: “I’m okay, thank you for not asking what happened, is that your next question?”
Then asked what is not working, she added: “That’s the question you want to know and it’s what I want to know too. I don’t really understand what’s not working on these races. Especially today.
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‘No! All wrong again! - Shiffrin ‘just can’t get it together’ as she crashes out again
“Even in the GS and slalom I felt maybe I had too high intensity, I was trying too hard, and I just didn’t get into my rhythm first.
“Today I was much more relaxed. Just ‘Hey it’s slalom, I know how to do slalom, I will take the chance to get into my tempo and start pushing each gate and build it from there.’
“I didn’t want to hold back on the run just to make it to the finish – and I wasn’t. But I also wasn’t going 110 per cent. I was just skiing, and it still didn’t work. I don’t have a really good explanation for it, and you can imagine how annoying that is for me, because I always want to find an explanation.
“Right now it’s just, there isn’t one.”
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‘Same mistake!’ – Shiffrin crashes out again after nightmare in slalom
Shiffrin has 47 World Cup slalom event wins to her name, having also won the 2014 Olympic gold and four world championships in this discipline.
She is regarded as one of the most consistent skiers of all time, but unfortunately for the 26-year-old these Games have been one to forget so far.
When asked about her ability to usually handle pressure, she said: “There are some races where I feel insane pressure, I’ve talked about it before my whole career. The last Olympic year I was feeling it, in the years before that it was insane.
“I’ve had pressure my whole career, especially the last years, and I didn’t feel here like the pressure was overwhelming. I felt prepared to handle that coming into these Games. I wanted to ski really good, fast skiing, and it’s not anything I ever practiced, to take something back in order to get more.
“I don’t know what to learn from that, because I think it’s going to be different already in the next World Cup race, that I have to go 110 per cent again in order to have a chance for the podium. It’s a really strange thing.”
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‘It's gone, it's over! A nightmare!’ – Shiffrin crashes on first run of giant slalom
There is one final chance for Shiffrin to win gold, and that is in the mixed team parallel event on Saturday.
Asked if she still intends to take part, she said yes before laughing and saying: “But I’m probably be a liability. Jeez! Maybe I should just do downhill now at least I can finish, oh my gosh.”
Commentating on the combined event, Nick Fellows and co-commentator Emma Carrick-Anderson were left shell-shocked by Shiffrin’s error on Thursday.
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'I'm so sad for her, she's the number one in the world' - Masnada on Shiffrin
“Shiffrin’s in the flow… but there’s the mistake!” said Fellows. “Oh no, she’s done it again, that is the third time in these Winter Olympics that Shiffrin has gone down in the slalom discipline where she has won Olympic gold, the world championships, and 47 World Cup wins.
“She just cannot get it together on the ‘Ice River’ race piste here in Beijing.”
Carrick-Anderson added: “I’ve got no words there. That is incredible. So unusual. We thought she would be able to put it behind her and move forward. Obviously those demons were sitting in the back of her mind.”
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