Mikaela Shiffrin Competes, and Corinne Suter Wins Gold, in Downhill

After two star-crossed, error-prone opening performances on the Beijing Olympics, Mikaela Shiffrin’s second act in China has been a measured return to proficiency. On Tuesday, within the girls’s downhill, an Olympic occasion Shiffrin had by no means entered, she completed 18th, a consequence that exhibited each a refurbished degree of confidence and a scarcity of expertise within the distinctive calls for of the race.

Corinne Suter of Switzerland gained the gold medal, edging the defending Olympic champion Sofia Goggia of Italy by .16 hundredths of a second. Goggia’s teammate Nadia Delago was .57 of a second behind Suter and claimed the bronze medal.

It was the primary Olympic medal for Suter, 27, who can also be the reigning downhill world champion. Suter has 4 World Cup victories, all within the velocity disciplines of downhill and super-G. A two-time world junior champion, she made her debut on the World Cup circuit as a 17-year-old in 2011.

Shiffrin had a clear, clean run however not one with the form of fearless, aggressive velocity essential to win one of many signature occasions of the Alpine meet within the Olympic Video games.

However Shiffrin, who has favored the shorter, much less speedy technical occasions, has competed sparingly within the downhill since 2019 and by no means since early December of final 12 months. And the downhill was thought of the weakest of the 5 occasions that Shiffrin was anticipated to enter on the Beijing Video games. Nonetheless, her consequence on Tuesday, coupled with a ninth place end within the super-G Friday, ought to present ample momentum for her possibilities in Thursday’s Alpine mixed, an occasion during which Shiffrin will probably be a prohibitive favourite. The mixed mixes one run of downhill and one run of slalom and Shiffrin’s degree of accomplishment in each ought to make her robust to beat. Will probably be her final particular person occasion of the Beijing Olympics.

Shiffrin’s run on Tuesday began properly and she or he was linking her turns with the form of silky, mild contact on the snow that has been her trademark. However because the pitch grew steeper and her velocity picked up, Shiffrin’s skis have been bouncing within the bumpy terrain. Thrown a bit astray, she fell farther and farther behind.

Of Shiffrin’s 73 World Cup profession victories, solely two have been within the downhill, the final in January 2020 and the opposite in 2017. In her final two downhills in December, she completed thirty eighth and twenty sixth.

In her first two races on the 2022 Winter Video games final week, Shiffrin fell within the opening seconds of the large slalom and slalom, her two greatest occasions.

A couple of weeks in the past, Goggia was not anticipated to be wholesome sufficient to race in Tuesday’s downhill. On Jan. 23, she misplaced management of her skis in a World Cup super-G and tumbled down the racecourse. She struggled to get to her toes with a sprained left knee and different bruises. She vowed to be prepared for the Beijing Video games downhill, and regardless of restricted on-snow preparation, she made a spirited protection of her Olympic crown.

Whereas her method was a bit of ragged, Goggia, who is understood for her attacking type, charged by way of a fearless run to take the race lead simply after Shiffrin had raced. However Suter, beginning two spots after Goggia, had the smoother, extra constant total run, with the quickest instances in two of 4 timed intervals and the second quickest within the subject within the two different timed intervals.