Defending champion Shiffrin out of Beijing 2022 giant slalom: "A huge disappointment"
American's challenge for back-to-back titles in the women's discipline ends just a few seconds after it began in her opening run on the Yanqing slopes.
Alpine Skiing
Defending champion Mikaela Shiffrin's defence of her Winter Olympic women's giant slalom title lasted just a few seconds at the 2022 Games, after an error near the top of her first run on Monday (7 February).
Wearing bib number 7, the two-time alpine skiing gold medallist missed a gate and didn't complete the tricky, steep course 'Ice River' on the slopes of the Yanqing mountains, north of Beijing. Several other top skiers - including 2021 World Cup winner Marta Bassino of Italy - also exited the competition after failing to make it to the end of run one: there was a total of 19 DNFs out of 80 starters.
The double Olympic gold medallist called her disqualification "a huge disappoinment": “The day was finished basically before it even started,” the 26-year-old was quoted as saying by The Associated Press.
“Like you can see, anything can happen and it happens really, really quickly,” she added.
"I'm not going to cry about this, because that's just wasting energy." - Mikaela Shiffrin on crashing out
"I felt that I was pushing really quite well and attacking. But there was just one turn, I had a small, small mistiming when I really went to push on my edges and that makes all the difference," Shiffrin said afterwards.
"The snow was just incredible to ski on. Oh my gosh, it's just really nice but if you do any small errors you really can't get away with it. As you can see, I got the worst of it on that turn.
"It doesn't happen too often that I am falling. I have been really working on the right timing of my turns and really never thought this was going to be part of the issue.
"But it wasn't because I was holding back, so I can be proud of that. But it's five turns into the Olympic GS, there's disappointment for sure."
The American is already looking forward to her next events: “I'm going to rest, focus on what I can control for the slalom," she told NBC.
"There is still long two weeks to go and I am still looking forward to it and I’m just. I am sorry that that was the performance I did today. But, that also happens and well, I wanna hide the disappointment but I am also not gonna dwell on that. That’s not gonna help me at all,” said Shiffrin.
Because the American did not finish (DNF) she won't line-up for the second run later on Monday, where the podium places will be decided. Follow our Live Blog updates for the latest from the competition.
Shiffrin came into Beijing 2022 in top form, sitting in first place in the World Cup Alpine Skiing overall standings.
The Team USA star said she would "compete in every event I qualify for. I'm planning to race everything.”
There are five more medals on offer to Shiffrin, the next is in the slalom on Wednesday (9 February). If she wins a title at Beijing 2022, she will become the all-time leader in gold medals in US alpine skiing history.
She became the youngest Winter Olympic slalom gold medallist at Sochi 2014, and won gold and silver at PyeongChang 2018.
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