Yanqing (AP) – Mikaela Shiffrin no longer cried, she only laughed. “I’m really disappointed and frustrated,” said the exceptional American athlete after her next debacle at the Winter Olympics in China. But somehow the whole thing just feels like “a joke”. After she was eliminated early in the giant slalom and in the slalom, the 26-year-old also threaded the 13th goal in the slalom of the alpine combination on Thursday and did not finish. Not one technical run has brought her down the slope in these games so far. Instead, her medal dreams all went down the drain on the “Ice River” track.
As in 2018 in Pyeongchang, the Swiss Michelle Gisin secured gold in the combination, in which no German athlete was at the start. Silver went to her compatriot Wendy Holdener, bronze to the Italian Federica Brignone. Shiffrin, who has already won three Olympic medals in her career, went away empty-handed as a co-favorite in all individual competitions in China. Your only chance to take any precious metal with you is the team event on Saturday.
Shiffrin hopes for the team competition
“I can’t tell you how frustrated I am about not knowing what to learn from this day,” Shiffrin said after she lost the combination. She just couldn’t explain it. Of course she was under pressure here at the Olympics, she said. But it was not bigger than usual and therefore not the problem. Not even the longer break from competition and training that she had to take in December as a result of a corona infection.
After ninth and 18th place in the Super-G and in the downhill, the long-time alpine dominator in Yanqing seemed a little more stable than in the days before, when she had shed many tears. In the downhill of the combination she worked out a good starting position for the decisive slalom on the skis, which she had received from the Olympic silver medalist Sofia Goggia from Italy. In her parade discipline, in which she has already celebrated four World Championship titles and a whopping 47 World Cup victories, she failed again.
Hate comments on social media: “Stupid blonde”
Apparently, she was met with hatred online. Several hours after the race, Shiffrin published comments and insults allegedly directed against her on the Internet. She published several screenshots of quotes on social media without comment. It says, among other things, “Can’t handle pressure”, “Arrogant”, “You got what you deserve” or “Stupid blonde”. However, the American did not explain what type of messages it was and where or how it was sent.
On the piste, it seemed as if Shiffrin, the personification of consistency over the years, had lost his bearings in the Chinese forest of poles. As if her compass, which used to lead her so reliably from success to success, had broken. “60 percent of the failures of my entire career happened here at these Olympic Games,” she calculated. “I should probably just quit,” she joked. Instead, she will train for the team competition. It is the last chance for a halfway conciliatory end to her personal Olympic nightmare.