Mikaela Shiffrin, the two-time Olympic gold medalist, fell just seconds into her first race at the Beijing Olympics during the women’s giant slalom early Monday. Shiffrin could not recover her footing in time to remain in the course and was disqualified from the competition, which continues with a second run Monday afternoon.
Shiffrin had just pushed out of the gate when she struggled to maintain her balance on a turn to her right. Late for the next gate, she toppled to her left hip and skidded to a stop. Shiffrin was the defending champion in the event.
Shiffrin has four races remaining in the Olympics, including her best event, the slalom, on Wednesday, but the giant slalom was seen as one of three good opportunities for her to win a medal, including a gold.
The racecourse at the National Alpine Center in Yanquig begins with a steep, icy pitch from the start gate and features a sharp turn to the right roughly 100 yards from the finish. At 47 turning gates and roughly 1,300 feet of vertical drop from top to bottom, the course is shorter than many on the World Cup circuit.
Shiffrin has three medals from two previous Games and would tie Julia Mancuso for the most Olympic medals by an American woman if she wins one more medal in Beijing. Bode Miller holds the overall U.S. record with six Olympic medals. Six is also the career record for most Olympic medals by a woman, which was accomplished by Janica Kostelic of Croatia and Anja Parson of Sweden.
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