Beijing Winter Olympics 2022 Digest: US skier Shiffrin makes another shock exit | DW | 09.02.2022

The biggest hope for the United States’ Alpine team, Mikaela Shiffrin’s Beijing Olympics are turning into a winter nightmare as she failed to finish for a second race in a row. 

The 26-year-old, who has been a regular feature on the podiums of events throughout the season, was eliminated after missing an early gate just over five seconds into her run. On Monday, she suffered the same fate when she made a shock exit in the giant slalom, crashing out on her first run. 

“My entire career has taught me to trust in my skiing … when the pressure is high, of course the pressure is high but that didn’t feel like the biggest issue today,” a dejected Shiffrin told reporters.

“It’s not the end of the world and it’s stupid to care this much but I feel like I have to question a lot now.”

Shiffrin will compete in three more individual events in Beijing, with the super-G on Friday, followed by the downhill on Monday and the alpine combined on February 17.

Gold medals

Mikaela Shiffrin’s loss was Petra Vlhova’s gain. The Slovak jumped from eighth into first after clocking an impressive time 1 minute 44.98 seconds. Austrian Katharina Liensberger also made an impressive comeback, winning silver having seventh after the first run, while 2018 silver medal winner Wendy Holdener, of Switzerland, won bronze.

Norway’s Birk Ruud became the first ever Olympic champion in the men’s freestyle big air with a total score of 187.5. Colby Stevenson, of the US, and Swede Henrik Harlaut, won silver and bronze respectively.

At the age of 36, legendary snowboarder Lindsey Jacobellis won her first ever Olympic gold in women’s snowboard cross, the US’ first of the 2022 Winter Games. This is Jacobellis’ second Olympic medal after winning silver at the 2006 Torino Olympics. The silver and bronze medals went to France’s Chloe Trespeuch and Canada’s Meryeta O’Dine.

Germany update

Lena Dürr had led the women’s slalom after the first run having been the first down the course known as the ‘Ice River.’ However, the 30-year-old went on to finish 0.07 seconds off a bronze medal, telling reporters afterwards “it’s hurts a lot right now especially given how close it was.”

In other news

The medal ceremony for the team figure skating competition at the Beijing Olympics has been delayed because of an ongoing legal issue that could affect medalists, the IOC said. Specific details regarding the case have not been disclosed.

The Russian Olympic team were the winners of the event, with 15-year-old sensation Kamila Valieva making history, but the ceremony to award Russian team the gold medals, the United
States silver and Japan bronze was not held as scheduled Tuesday.