Mikaela Shiffrin Competes in Downhill for First Time at Olympics
“Harmful.”
That was the phrase Mikaela Shiffrin used to explain the downhill Monday after her second coaching run on the Yanqing Nationwide Alpine Middle.
Shiffrin will ski the downhill Tuesday for the primary time at an Olympic Video games, a choice that she and her coaches made after a second profitable coaching run on the Yanqing Nationwide Alpine Middle.
Shiffrin, one of many world’s finest skiers, had a forgettable first week on the Olympics. She failed to complete her first two occasions, after coming into as one of many favorites for gold, and was ninth within the super-G on Friday. Whereas the primary two outcomes left Shiffrin pondering her continued participation at one level, she was buoyed by her end on Friday.
Nonetheless, a begin within the downhill, her weakest occasion, appeared unlikely. This isn’t her favourite exercise on the ski mountain, the place she made her status carving among the most sleek and balanced slalom turns anybody had ever seen.
However Shiffrin turned within the second quickest coaching run for a U.S. skier, behind Jacqueline Wiles, and the seventeenth quickest general, on a brilliant and chilly day on the mountain that was far completely different from her first probability on this course. That was Sunday, when a snowstorm compelled the cancellation of a scheduled coaching run.
“We had a day of relaxation and restoration on this 17-day block that was unplanned and was truly very nice,” Shiffrin stated shortly after finishing her follow run.
Tuesday morning has damaged clear and really chilly — it’s within the single digits on the prime of the hill, with a crisp breeze that has delayed the beginning by a half-hour, to 11:30 a.m. The racers will likely be sporting tape over their cheeks to guard them from wind burn.
Shiffrin got here to the Olympics favored to win medals in a number of occasions. However she was disqualified within the giant slalom and slalom races final week. She completed ninth within the super-G on Friday, and was completely happy simply to recover from the end line for the primary time in Beijing.
Shiffrin has gained downhill races on the World Cup, however she has by no means gained a World Championship downhill. She had hoped to enter the downhill within the 2018 Olympics, however adjustments within the schedule brought on by unhealthy climate compelled her to desert that plan. Certainly one of her objectives in Beijing was to race in all 5 particular person occasions, and competing within the downhill would preserve her on observe for that.
It additionally will give her an opportunity to arrange for the downhill portion of the mixed occasion, which consists of that section and a slalom run. Shiffrin gained the silver in that occasion in 2018.