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After the downhill part of alpine mixed, there isn’t any skier forward of her who is almost as completed on the slalom as Mikaela Shiffrin.
BEIJING, China — Mikaela Shiffrin was in position to contend for her first medal of the Beijing Olympics on Thursday in her fifth — and last — particular person race after making it via the downhill leg of the Alpine mixed.
The mixed provides instances from one downhill run and one slalom run.
The two-time Olympic champion was fifth quickest of the 26 entrants within the downhill, ending in 1 minute, 32.98 seconds. That left her 0.56 seconds behind chief Christine Scheyer of Austria.
That deficit and placement shouldn’t be all that daunting for Shiffrin: Not solely is there nobody forward of her who is almost as completed a slalom skier because the 26-year-old American, however she additionally might take coronary heart from what occurred 4 years in the past.
After the downhill portion of the mixed on the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics, Shiffrin stood sixth and trailed teammate Lindsey Vonn by 1.98 seconds. However Shiffrin ended up coming away with the silver medal, between Swiss skiers Michelle Gisin (gold) and Wendy Holdener (bronze).
One key component this time, although: Shiffrin, anticipated to be one of many stars of the 2022 Video games, only managed to make it through five gates in both the giant slalom and slalom final week, snowboarding out inside seconds of the opening leg of every of these two-run races.
She then was ninth in the super-G and 18th within the downhill in her Olympic debuts in these races.
“I’ve to beat the picture that I’m going to ski out on the fifth gate,” stated Shiffrin, who additionally plans to enter the group occasion on Saturday. “I’m simply making an attempt to remain calm, as a result of I feel I used to be doing fairly properly with that this morning. Keep calm and have an excellent run at slalom.”
Holdener was in eleventh after the downhill, 0.43 seconds behind Shiffrin. Gisin was twelfth, one other hundredth again.
Shiffrin stated she used a pair of downhill skis lent to her by Sofia Goggia, the Italian who gained a gold in that occasion 4 years in the past and a silver on Tuesday.
“My technique was actually the identical because it’s been the final days,” stated Shiffrin, who posted the very best time in Wednesday’s downhill coaching run. “Yesterday, I lastly felt I might actually belief my instincts within the observe and, it’s foolish, however: Simply attempt to ski quick, mainly. In downhill, it takes slightly little bit of apply and slightly little bit of understanding (of) how the hill is dragging you round and I lastly began to really feel that the fitting method yesterday.”
The slalom leg was scheduled to start about 2 1/2 hours later, and a half-mile away, on a distinct slope on the Nationwide Alpine Snowboarding Middle in Yanqing zone.
The slalom course was being set by Mike Day, Shiffrin’s important coach with the U.S. ski group — the results of a random draw.
Shiffrin’s finest occasion for years has been the slalom.
She gained a gold medal in that self-discipline at age 18 on the 2014 Sochi Olympics and her 47 profession World Cup slalom victories are greater than some other racer has gained in any self-discipline.
Scheyer, in the meantime, acknowledged being “sort of nervous” in regards to the slalom, as a result of she so not often races or practices it.
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