Winter Olympics 2022 - 'Amazing' - Mikaela Shiffrin praises course but laments 'really frustrating mistake' in GS

ByEurosport

Updated 07/02/2022 at 09:14 GMT

Mikaela Shiffrin's bid to win gold in the giant slalom is already over. The 26-year-old was trying to become the first US Alpine ski racer to win three Olympic golds, but coming around a left-turn gate, she lost her ski's edge and fell on her side. Watch every moment of Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 on discovery+.

Defending giant slalom Olympic champion Mikaela Shiffrin crashed out during the first run on Monday, and she told Eurosport that while she was disappointed, she was proud of her performance.

The 26-year-old was aiming to collect a third Olympic gold after successes in the slalom in Sochi in 2014 and the giant slalom at the PyeongChang 2018 Games.

However, Shiffrin – seventh out – crashed on the left-turn fifth gate. She was the highest profile of a number of athletes who struggled with conditions at the Yanqing Alpine Skiing Centre, with 22 of the 82 racers failing to complete the first run.

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"I felt I was pushing quite well and attacking, but there was just one turn I had a small mistiming of when I really went to push on my edges,” Shiffrin exclusively told Eurosport.

“That makes all the difference.”

‘It's gone, it's over! A nightmare!’ – Shiffrin crashes on first run of giant slalom

She added on social media that her DNF was due to "really awful timing of a really frustrating mistake", saying that she would turn her attentions to cheering on her team-mates in the second run of the GS and the men's downhill.

Sara Hector of Sweden stopped the clock at 57.56s to lead from Katharina Truppe (Austria) and Federica Brignone (Italy) ahead of the second run.

Shiffrin was one of a number of racers who struggled with their footing, with another pre-race favourite – Petra Vlhova (Slovakia) – languishing in 13th almost two seconds off the pace ahead of the second run.

The venue is heavily reliant on artificial snow and Brignone called it “weird” after she had completed her run. Shiffrin did not add to that criticism but said the course punishes the smallest of errors.

"This snow is incredible to ski on. Oh my gosh. It's really nice but if you do any small errors you really cannot get away with that so as you can see I got the worst of it in that turn.

"It doesn't happen too often that I fall. I've been really working on the right timing of my turns and I never thought this was going to be part of the issue, but it wasn't because I was holding back so I can be proud of that.

"But it's five turns into the Olympic GS. There is disappointment for sure."

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Watch every moment of Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 on discovery+

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