Mikaela Shiffrin received the second Olympic gold of her profession with victory within the large slalom.
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Shiffrin provides large slalom title to slalom gold from Sochi
American focusing on a number of golds in Pyeongchang
She is going to race once more in slalom Friday
CNN
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For Mikaela Shiffrin, it was well worth the wait.
The American’s quest for Olympic glory lastly received beneath manner after days of climate delays and the 22-year-old did as was anticipated, profitable gold within the ladies’s large slalom.
It was her second Olympic title after confirming her precocious expertise by turning into the youngest Olympic slalom – at 18 – in Sochi 4 years in the past.
Forward of the Video games there was hypothesis the gifted all-rounder may goal 5 golds in Pyeongchang, however hours after her win, Shiffrin’s mom and coach, Eileen, confirmed to CNN that her daughter wouldn’t be competing in Saturday’s super-G.
The compressed scheduled pressured by the excessive winds earlier within the week – the large slalom was initially set for Monday – means the three-time world champion will as an alternative put together for subsequent week’s downhill and alpine mixed occasions.
Shiffrin will race once more in her favored slalom occasion Friday as she bids to equal or higher Croatian Janica Kostelic’s 2002 file of three golds at a single Video games.
Mikaela Shiffrin was in blistering type when the climate cleared in Pyeongchang.
Hailed a “phenom” even earlier than profitable her first Winter Olympic gold, Shriffin may but change into the primary Alpine skier to win greater than 4 Olympic gold medals in a profession.
Kostelic and males’s nice Kjetil Andre Aamodt of Norway each ended their careers with 4 golds.
Earlier than the announcement of Shiffrin’s super-G withdrawal, her coach Mike Day stated the climate delays had made her bid for 5 golds tough.
“It’s unlucky. It’s an out of doors sport and we received hit arduous by the climate,” he informed CNN’s Christina Macfarlane.
After profitable gold to change into solely the third American Alpine skier to win two Olympic golds, becoming a member of Andrea Mead-Lawrence and Ted Ligety, Shiffrin admitted that the weather-hit delays had been “mentally taxing.”
“By the tip of those couple of weeks I’m going to really feel that, even when we had these first two races go the best way they need to,” she stated.
“It’s mentally difficult to get excited for a race after which have it canceled. It’s not straightforward.”
However Shiffrin is a “standout due to her psychological toughness,” her coach Jeff Lackie told CNN, and he or she surged from second after run one to beat Norwegian Ragnhild Mowinckel by 0.39 seconds with Italian Federica Brignone in third.
“It’s probably not aid,” Shiffrin informed reporters. “It was an incredible feeling. My finest effort is nice sufficient and I’ve an Olympic gold.
“The second run, I liked how the course seemed and I simply thought ‘I’ve received to go.’ Everyone’s snowboarding to win and it left me no selection however to do the identical.
“This morning I wakened and didn’t really feel significantly nervous. I used to be in a position to eat my breakfast, which usually on race day I’m not in a position to do. I had moments once I was nervous, I had moments once I felt strain. On the beginning gate I assumed ‘simply go for it.’”
Images: The very best photographs of alpine snowboarding on the Winter Olympics
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The snowboarding program is among the most hotly contested of any Winter Olympics, and PyeongChang 2018 is not any totally different. US favourite Mikaela Shiffrin received silver within the alpine mixed, taking her PyeongChang Olympic haul as much as two, after claiming gold within the large slalom.
Images: The very best photographs of alpine snowboarding on the Winter Olympics
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Switzerland’s Michelle Gisin took gold, making an Olympic double for her household after elder sister Dominique received the downhill in Sochi 4 years in the past. Her fellow Swiss Wendy Holdener received bronze.
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Marcel Hirscher, winner of two gold medals this video games and arguably the best skier of his era, was vying for a 3rd Olympic title. However the Austrian misplaced management and crashed within the males’s slalom, leaving the competition huge open.
Images: The very best photographs of alpine snowboarding on the Winter Olympics
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Sweden’s Andre Myhrer clinched gold within the slalom, turning into the oldest Olympic medalist on this occasion, aged 35 — enhancing on his slalom bronze in Vancouver eight years in the past.
Images: The very best photographs of alpine snowboarding on the Winter Olympics
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Sofia Goggia, 25, grew to become the primary Italian to win the ladies’s downhill, cementing a profitable season through which she leads the World Cup downhill standings.
Images: The very best photographs of alpine snowboarding on the Winter Olympics
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US skier famous person Lindsey Vonn was denied gold in her signature occasion at what is going to possible be her remaining Olympics, strolling away with bronze. She had hoped to reclaim the title she received in Vancouver eight years in the past, having missed the possibility at Sochi 2014 attributable to accidents.
Images: The very best photographs of alpine snowboarding on the Winter Olympics
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Austria’s Marcel Hirscher received his second gold within the large slalom on Sunday, ending 1.27 seconds forward of Norway’s Henrik Kristoffersen — the most important margin of victory within the competitors since 1968.
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Ester Ledecka, the 22-year-old Czech, is healthier often called a snowboarding world champion, not a super-G skier. The underdog shocked the world as she completed one-hundredth of a second forward of defending champion Anna Veith.
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A giant upset within the ladies’s slalom, the place US favourite Mikaela Shiffrin, the defending champion, missed out on a medal a day after profitable gold within the large slalom.
Images: The very best photographs of alpine snowboarding on the Winter Olympics
As an alternative, Frida Hansdotter of Sweden claimed her first ever Olympic medal, turning into the third Swede to win slalom gold.
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Within the males’s super-G, Austria’s Matthias Mayer grabbed gold, breaking Norway’s 16-year grip on the title. Mayer received downhill gold in Sochi. His father Helmut clinched silver within the inaugural Olympic super-G in Calgary in 1988.
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Mikaela Shiffrin was set to be the standout star of the Video games after she took her first gold, and the second of her profession, within the large slalom.
Images: The very best photographs of alpine snowboarding on the Winter Olympics
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Norway’s Ragnhild Mowinckel received large slalom silver for her first Olympic medal, ending 0.39 seconds behind Shiffrin.
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Italy’s Federica Brignone took bronze, turning into the primary Italian lady in 16 years to win an alpine snowboarding medal.
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Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway made historical past within the males’s downhill on day six, turning into the oldest Olympic alpine snowboarding champion on the age of 35.
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Svindal’s gold was Norway’s first ever Olympic downhill gold. His teammate Kjetil Jansrud took silver, ending simply 0.12 seconds adrift.
Images: The very best photographs of alpine snowboarding on the Winter Olympics
Images: The very best photographs of alpine snowboarding on the Winter Olympics
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Austrian famous person Marcel Hirscher received his first Olympic gold within the alpine mixed on day 4. The 28-year-old has competed in three Winter Video games however his earlier finest was a silver in Sochi.
Images: The very best photographs of alpine snowboarding on the Winter Olympics
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France’s Alexis Pinturault received his second Olympic medal, including silver within the mixed to the bronze he received in large slalom in Sochi 4 years in the past.
Images: The very best photographs of alpine snowboarding on the Winter Olympics
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One other Frenchman Victor Muffat-Jeandet received bronze — a pleasing shock after recording the twenty ninth quickest time within the opening downhill leg.
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Russian Pavel Trikhichev suffers a fall after clipping a gate in the course of the alpine mixed downhill. He was the only real Olympic Athlete from Russia to compete within the occasion.
In an try and ease the strain of expectation, Shiffrin informed reporters she had not been on social media for a few weeks.
“I don’t assume anyone places as massive an expectations on me as I do myself,” she stated.
“I’ve not been on Twitter, Instagram, Fb for 2 weeks. If I need to submit one thing I inform my agent that is what I need to say.
“I haven’t been taking a look at what persons are saying or watching. I’ve actually been away from {that a} bit and that helps rather a lot as a result of if I don’t see it I don’t know what persons are saying.”
Throughout the first run, Shriffin wasn’t the one competitor attracting consideration on the Yongpyong Alpine Heart.
North Korea’s all-female cheerleading squad, wearing matching pink snowsuits and bobble hats, had been in full voice to help North Korea’s entry, 25-year-old Kim Ryon Hyang, who completed final.
Becoming a member of the squad of their singing and chants was a bunch of about 50 unification supporters sporting hoodies with a silhouette of a unified Korean peninsula.
The unification group, primarily younger people who find themselves from numerous cities in South Korea, had realized that the cheerleaders could be current by means of native media and determined to attend the occasion.
Huh Jung-bin, 22, from Busan, South Korea’s second-most populous metropolis, stated they had been on the Alpine Heart to help the cheerleaders and unification of the North and South, two international locations nonetheless technically at battle.
All through the competitors, the 2 teams, sitting in separate sections, sang in unison, and waved flags of unified Korea which have been so acquainted at these Video games.