Alpine skiing-Windy conditions in Yanqing worry US skier Shiffrin

YANQING, China, Feb 5 (Reuters) – Swirling winds across the steep slopes of Yanqing have been a scorching subject among the many alpine snowboarding contingent on the Beijing Video games and double Olympic gold medallist Mikaela Shiffrin stated she hoped nobody would get blown off the mountain.

The American, who’s aiming to compete in all 5 alpine snowboarding occasions in China, bought her first style of the circumstances on Friday and got here away with a newfound appreciation of simply how a lot of a problem awaits.

“There’s going to be an enormous aspect of simply crossing your fingers in these Video games,” Shiffrin stated. “It is a few of the steepest terrain I’ve ever skilled in my life.

“Ideally no one goes to face one of many actually massive gusts whenever you practically get blown off the mountain.

“Snowboarding pace whenever you’re getting air off terrain … that turns into not solely difficult but additionally very harmful.

“It is a bit little bit of a bummer whenever you go into a vital collection of races realizing there are some elements which can be usually not so excessive in some other races we do that would actually play a task in how the outcomes pan out.”

Shiffrin, 26, gained slalom gold on the Sochi Video games eight years in the past, and gold within the large slalom in Pyeongchang in 2018.

Broadly thought-about one of the best alpine skier of her era, she is anticipated so as to add to her tally of three Olympic medals and stated her probabilities of doing that have been “not unhealthy”.

“If you wish to get a medal right here, you need to ski nicely as a result of the floor is legit, the hills are usually not simple. It’ll require snowboarding that is actually on level,” Shiffrin added.

“Success is getting right here and getting by means of it.

“There’s going to be some stage of disappointment if I stroll away with no medal, however I do not suppose it is doable to stroll away with out some stage of disappointment about one thing.

“It is unattainable to have an ideal two weeks.”

Reporting by Simon Jennings; Modifying by Peter Rutherford

Our Requirements: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.