Mikaela Shiffrin completes first-ever Olympic downhill: "I've learned a lot"

Alpine skiing superstar Mikaela Shiffrin says she has "learned a lot" after finishing nearly two seconds off the pace as she completed her first-ever Olympic downhill at Beijing 2022.

Wearing bib number 12, the American produced a clean run but lost speed in the second half of the 'Rock' course, with some "headwind and tailwind coming into play" according to US Ski and Snowboard.

Shiffrin crossed the finish line clocking a time of 1 minute and 34.36 seconds, 2.49 seconds behind winner Corinne Suter of Switzerland and ended up in 18th place (out of 31 finishers).

The 26-year-old said to European broadcasters Eurosport-Discovery: "I feel pretty good. It's a little bit tricky downhill, because I can feel the speed, I can feel some sections are really smooth and really good and aggressive, but sometimes I'm a bit too harsh on edges, sometimes I'm not doing enough with my skis, it's a little hard for me to find the perfect balance there but it's pretty incredible to watch all of these ladies skiing down, especially the top girls, it's just impressive."

She then continued: "I feel like over the last couple of days I've learned a lot, it feels there's a lot to learn, but all in all I've done OK processing everything, I'd like to clean up that first top section...It's not really supposed to be a jump and I keep jumping it! (laughs) So I'll try to fix that, it is really tricky!"

Shiffrin had only competed in one downhill (38th place in Lake Louise in December) this season, after not racing the discipline in the 2020/21 World Cup.

This was the second event that the six-time world champion has completed at this Olympics after finishing 9th in the super G. She failed to finish her opening two events, the GS and the slalom.

Shiffrin: I have a good shot in the combined

Shiffrin had the opportunity to further test the speed track in Yanqing ahead of the combined event, which includes a donwhill and slalom run.

The race is scheduled for Thursday (17 February) and the American is considered one of the favourites, along with PyeongChang 2018 gold medallist Michelle Gisin.

"I think I have a shot and that's really nice," the 26-year-old said on NBC.

Combined world silver medallist Petra Vlhova is forced to sit out of the event due to a ankle tendon injury.

Coming into Beijing, Shiffrin was targeting an ambitious plan to compete in all five individual events. She will also enter the team event on Saturday 19 February.