[ad_1]
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
For Mikaela Shiffrin, the Winter Olympics are off to a disappointing begin. The U.S. Alpine snowboarding star, winner of three Olympic medals, thought-about one of many best in her sport, began two races and did not make it via the primary run of both of them. In the present day on the Beijing Video games, Shiffrin skied off the slalom course simply seconds after she started. The short-turning slalom is her greatest occasion. She’s received extra slalom races than any World Cup skier, lady or man, in historical past.
Earlier this morning, I talked to NPR sports activities correspondent Tom Goldman in Beijing.
TOM GOLDMAN, BYLINE: Let me let you know first what occurred, Rachel. She was the seventh racer to start out the primary of two slalom runs. And simply 5 seconds in, her skis slipped on a flip. She could not get better. She skied off the course after which went over and sat down close to protecting netting on the aspect, put her head down. And he or she was there for a lot of minutes whereas different racers skied by. It was a – sort of a painful picture. Speaking to reporters, she was each disillusioned. She mentioned, it is a letdown of every part – letting down myself, letting down different individuals. And he or she sounded a bit defiant, too, saying, quote, “I did not end within the Olympics. Come on. That hurts. However in 24 hours, no one goes to care. Properly, perhaps it is going to take a little bit longer,” finish quote. Now, she says she’s going to attempt to reset and put together for 3 extra occasions. However she is aware of she missed the possibility to win one other medal in her two greatest races – slalom and large slalom.
I wish to add one factor right here – a reminder. She wasn’t the one lady racing at this time – and a tip of the ski helmet to Slovakia’s Petra Vlhova, most likely Shiffrin’s fundamental rival. They’re the identical age. And Vlhova has spent years ending behind Shiffrin. In the present day she received a gold medal within the slalom.
MARTIN: So is Shiffrin saying why this occurred, why she had these two flameouts?
GOLDMAN: You realize, she’s explaining it in snowboarding phrases. With the slalom at this time, she mentioned she needed to take a very aggressive line, that means extra straight down the hill. And that left little room for correction if there was a bobble. And there was. And he or she could not get better. And so she skied off the course. Greater causes – you recognize, Rachel, right here we get into the doable psychological facet – one thing very acquainted after what occurred to gymnast Simone Biles on the Summer season Olympics final 12 months. Shiffrin, like Biles and different Olympic stars, has talked in regards to the stress for these Olympians who had been featured on journal covers and talked about as medal contenders. Curiously, she mentioned stress wasn’t the massive difficulty at this time. There have been nerves. However she additionally mentioned the – you recognize, she had the sensation she all the time has, that good snowboarding can be there for her.
MARTIN: There may be some excellent news, although, at this time on the medal entrance for Crew USA, proper?
GOLDMAN: There may be (laughter) excellent news – a primary gold medal for the U.S. from the game of snowboard cross. Now, during the last eight Winter Olympics, it is taken the U.S. on common 1.75 days – I did the maths, Rachel – to win a primary gold.
MARTIN: Yeah.
GOLDMAN: This time it took 5 days. And we had been questioning whether or not this was reflective of some troubling shift on the planet order.
(LAUGHTER)
GOLDMAN: And Lindsey Jacobellis restored order within the snowboard cross, the place 4 snowboarders go away the gate on the identical time, shoulder to shoulder. First one to the underside wins. So congrats to her profitable her first gold in her fifth Olympics. And at 36, she’s the oldest American lady to win a Winter Olympics gold medal.
MARTIN: Ah, that is very cool. And all is effectively on the planet.
GOLDMAN: (Laughter).
MARTIN: NPR’s Tom Goldman in Beijing.
Thanks, Tom.
GOLDMAN: You are welcome.
Copyright © 2022 NPR. All rights reserved. Go to our web site terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for additional info.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by Verb8tm, Inc., an NPR contractor, and produced utilizing a proprietary transcription course of developed with NPR. This textual content is probably not in its ultimate kind and could also be up to date or revised sooner or later. Accuracy and availability might range. The authoritative report of NPR’s programming is the audio report.
[ad_2]
Source link
