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BEIJING — Downhill is to Mikaela Shiffrin as breaststroke was to Michael Phelps.
They will do these races, after all. They’re the very best of their respective sports activities and, on a really fundamental stage, snowboarding is snowboarding, simply as swimming is swimming. And they’ll do these occasions, if for no different purpose than to be aggressive in different races.
However to contend for an Olympic medal in that occasion particularly, as is predicted within the races which might be their specialties? Let’s have somewhat perspective, please.
Little doubt some will have a look at Shiffrin’s end in Tuesday’s downhill – 18th place, greater than two seconds behind gold medalist Corinne Suter – and, given her earlier struggles on the Beijing Olympics, assume it was one other unhealthy race.
Look somewhat additional, although, and also you’ll see that Shiffrin doesn’t ski downhill typically. She’s raced it 14 instances in her World Cup profession – by comparability, the slalom in Beijing was her seventh of this season – and solely three of these have been since January 2020.
Earlier than Saturday’s first training run, she hadn’t even been on her downhill skis since December, when she did two races at Lake Louise.
“I really feel like I’ve rather a lot to study in downhill and I’m attempting to sort of take a crash course simply in these previous couple of days,” Shiffrin stated. “I don’t actually anticipate a lot from the outcomes, however I wish to ski the hill the best way that it’s essentially the most enjoyable to ski. Which is snowboarding with the hill and making pace and you’ll really feel the acceleration.
“I really feel it in some spots,” she stated. “After which in some spots, I really feel like I’m preventing it a bit. That’s only a lack of expertise displaying by way of.”
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And in contrast to Phelps, who received’t drown if he races breaststroke, the downhill carries a really actual threat of significant harm. Nicely, any ski race does. However the downhill particularly, the place skiers are barreling down a slender monitor, on uneven terrain, at speeds of as much as 80 miles an hour.
So why hassle doing it?
First, as a result of Shiffrin wished to. She had hoped to race all 5 particular person occasions on the Pyeongchang Olympics 4 years in the past, solely to have weather-related delays upend the schedule and make it unimaginable.
To date in Beijing, the climate is cooperating. For the ladies, the one factor that’s been canceled or postponed was the second downhill coaching run, which obtained scrubbed Sunday due to a snowstorm.
Shiffrin has raved in regards to the downhill course, calling it stunning and spectacular. If in any respect potential she wished to race it, even when she knew her odds of contending for a medal had been unlikely.
“It was a very unhealthy concept!” Shiffrin stated, laughing, when somebody requested how she was dealing with the bodily calls for of doing all 5 occasions. “I’m so completely satisfied that I obtained the chance to race right this moment, and energy-wise I really feel OK.”
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The bigger purpose for Shiffrin to race the downhill, nevertheless, is to place herself in higher place for the Alpine mixed Thursday.
The mixed is one run every of each downhill and slalom. Shiffrin can afford to surrender some floor within the downhill, particularly since Olympic slalom gold medalist Petra Vlhova has already left Beijing. Vlhova completed second to Shiffrin within the mixed ultimately 12 months’s world championships.
However some can also be a relative time period. Shiffrin has to at the least be aggressive within the downhill to present herself a shot at a medal within the mixed, making any time she will get on the downhill course useful.
“Every single day that I get on this monitor and I’m capable of take a run and simply do a strong run, high to backside, it offers me the prospect to be somewhat extra calm in my thoughts,” she stated. “I are likely to assume means an excessive amount of and that makes it arduous to ski freely. However I can’t (ski freely). I’ve to assume as a result of I haven’t actually practiced downhill in two years.”
These Olympics haven’t gone in any respect as Shiffrin, or anybody else, imagined they might.
After profitable two golds and a silver in her first two Olympics, she was anticipated to contend for a number of medals right here. However she skied off the course after the fifth gate within the first run of each the giant slalom and slalom, her two greatest occasions, and was ninth in the super-G.
“Nothing’s assured,” she stated. “That’s the No. 1 lesson that I believe many individuals study on the Olympic Video games, is that there is no such thing as a assure for something. Not for efficiency or outcomes.”
Oh, and for what it’s price? Phelps by no means even swam a breaststroke race on the Olympics or world championships. When he swam the 200-meter breast on the 2015 nationwide championships, he completed seventh.
Not everyone may be nice at all the pieces.
Comply with USA TODAY Sports activities columnist Nancy Armour on Twitter @nrarmour.
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