February 17, (THEWILL) – It has been an Olympics to forget for American athlete Mikaela Shiffrin, who had her third Did-Not-Finish (DNF) event of the Winter Games on Thursday, but Michelle Gisin succesMikaela Shiffrinsfully defended her combined title.
After finishing fifth in the downhill, Shiffrin was left stunned in the slalom as she witnessed another race slip away before the finish line at Beijing 2022. Instead, Gisin won gold for the second time, finishing more than a second ahead of Swiss teammate Wendy Holdener, with Federica Brignone taking bronze.
Shiffrin’s participation in the rest of the Games was in jeopardy after DNFs in the slalom and giant slalom last week.
After a despondent performance in the slalom, she declared “what is the point?” but bounced back to finish ninth in the super-G and 18th in the downhill, the American was expecting to accomplish a big turnaround and win gold for the third consecutive Games.
However, the 2014 slalom and 2018 giant slalom champion’s challenge was fruitless in the combined, and she will look to Saturday’s team event as her final chance to win gold in China.
In an interview leading up to the slalom, Shiffrin revealed she hoped to get through the sixth gate after borrowing Sofia Goggia’s skis for the downhill and leaving a motivating letter for the American.
She was able to do so, ostensibly exorcising her demons, but she was down and out again in a matter of seconds. As the competition progressed, footage showed Shiffrin being consoled by her coaching staff.
Brignone was the first to dethrone Ester Ledecka from the top of the standings with a combined time of 2:27.52. Gisin and Wendy Holdener of Switzerland were next, with the latter gaining the lead with a time of 2:26.72.
Gisin, on the other hand, ran a spectacular time of 1.05 seconds faster than her compatriot, defending her Olympic title in style.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
