Mikaela Shiffrin leaves Beijing 2022 without a medal: "My teammates are what carried me through this Olympics"
The American skiing star lost three of her four head-to-head races as Team USA finished fourth in mixed team parallel event.
Alpine Skiing
Mikaela Shiffrin ended her third Olympic Winter Games on Sunday (20 February) without winning a medal.
The American and her USA teammates reached the small final in the mixed team parallel, the last event in the alpine skiing programme at Beijing 2022, but were beaten by Norway on time countback after a 2-2 tie.
The US beat Slovakia and Italy on their way to the semi-finals, where they fell to Germany (1-3). Shiffrin - who always competed on the slower red course - lost three of her four head-to-head races: she beat Slovakian Rebeka Jankova by 0.64 seconds in the first round, but then was defeated by Marta Bassino in the quarter-finals (0.02 seconds), by Lena Duerr (0.10 seconds) in the semis, and by Thea Louise Stjernesund (0.52 seconds) in the small final.
The 26-year-old skiing superstar, who also missed out on medals in all her individual events, represented the US in the team event along with Paula Moltzan, Tommy Ford, and River Radamus.
Shiffrin: Today is my favourite Olympic memory
"My teammates are what carried me throught this Olympics," Shiffrin told NBC after the race.
"Today, I have to emphasise how unbelievable it is for us to be here and be in the hunt for a medal. I guess people will say we came up short, but the thing is to have this depth on our team, coming from the US, competing in an European-dominated sport, coming here and having all of us with these guys skiing so strongly... River (Radamus) we were watching you at the bottom there and the fact that you were skiing so strongly, you've been giving us hope, that's the biggest win you can ever give us.
"And it's just been incredible to compete with you guys, after a long Olympics, this is my absolute favourite memory and I just want to thank you for that."
"I have had a lot of disappointing moments at these Games, today is not one of them. Today is my favourite memory. This was the best possible way that I could imagine ending the Games, skiing with such strong teammates." - Mikaela Shiffrin after finishing fourth with team USA
You can read what happened in our live coverage of the event. Austria won gold in the competition, with Germany earning silver, and Norway bronze.
The event, originally scheduled for Saturday in China, was delayed by a day due to the windy conditions on the 'Rainbow' course at the Yanqing National Skiing Centre.
Shiffrin: I feel I lost it for the team
"This is the kind of event where there's a lot that just hangs in the balance," Shiffrin said
"You have to just hope that every single one of the people in your team is able to give their very best and every single one of us did today."
The six-time world champion reflected on her feelings after missing out on the podium with her team:
"It's fourth but it could have easily been a bronze, it could have been a silver, it could have been a gold, because that potential is there. And that's something I'm extremely proud of.
"It's really easy to say, for me too, to feel like I lost this for the team. I wanted to assist everyone, but I feel like I lost it for them. And we all feel some of that, but we came out and competed together and that's not something we do often in ski racing.
"And the strength and depth on our team is there, which is something we've not been able to say before."
Mikaela Shiffrin's individual event results at Beijing 2022
Giant Slalom on 7 February: DNF in first run.
Slalom on 9 February: DNF in first run.
Super G on 11 February: 9th.
Downhill on 15 February: 18th.
Combined on 17 February: 5th in the downhill, DNF in the slalom leg.