Mikaela Shiffrin finishes super-G without crashing

By HOWARD FENDRICH | The Related Press

BEIJING — Mikaela Shiffrin accomplished the super-G on the Beijing Olympics on Friday in a time means out of medal competition — however for the primary time in three races on the 2022 Video games, she made it to the end.

The 2-time Olympic Alpine gold medalist crossed the road on the backside of a course referred to as The Rock in an unofficial time of 1 minute, 14.30 seconds. That left the 26-year-old American greater than a half-second behind early chief Lara Intestine-Behrami of Switzerland.

It additionally put Shiffrin in eighth place after solely 11 of the 44 entrants had taken their turns down the slope.

Shiffrin by no means had entered a super-G at an Olympics earlier than, though she did win a gold within the occasion on the 2019 world championship and a bronze finally 12 months’s worlds.

She failed to complete her opening run within the two-run occasions that preceded the super-G in Beijing: the enormous slalom and the slalom, each of which she received at previous Olympics.

Shiffrin truly began nicely sufficient Friday, reaching the preliminary examine level in 12.66 seconds — forward of Intestine-Behrami’s tempo.

However from there, Shiffrin misplaced contact with the chief, shedding hundredths, then tenths, of seconds alongside the way in which.

The Beijing Olympics hardly went to plan for Shiffrin on the outset. Couldn’t have gotten off to a worse begin, actually.

First got here Monday’s big slalom, which she received on the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics. She teetered uncontrolled and did not correctly deal with a flip after 5 gates — her day was finished about 10 seconds into the primary leg of a two-run occasion.

That was adopted by Wednesday’s slalom, which she received on the 2014 Sochi Video games to grow to be, at 18, the youngest girls’s champion in that race in Olympic historical past. Fairly just like the GS, she skidded wildly on a flip after 5 gates — this time, her day was finished 5 seconds into the primary leg of a two-run occasion.

What was so exhausting for followers, and Shiffrin, to imagine is that not solely are the slalom and big slalom her two greatest races, and have been for years, however she virtually by no means makes the kind of mistake that leads to a “Did Not End” subsequent to her title on the end result sheet.

The flub within the big slalom created her first “DNF” in that occasion since Jan. 23, 2018, a streak of 30 races. Her 47 World Cup slalom wins are greater than every other skier in any Alpine occasion in historical past.

After that second surprisingly fast exit Wednesday, Shiffrin solid some doubt on whether or not she even can be on the slope Friday, saying: “If I’m going to ski out on the fifth gate, like, what’s the purpose?”

However then she went out Thursday with different athletes for the 2 allowed follow journeys on the super-G competitors hill. A couple of hours later, the U.S. ski staff introduced that Shiffrin would, certainly, be on the beginning listing.