"A big relief" for Mikaela Shiffrin as she completes first Beijing 2022 event in Olympic super G
The American missed the podium but had a solid run in her first completed race at this Olympics after failing to finish in her first two events.
Alpine Skiing
Alpine skiing star Mikaela Shiffrin had a little smile on her face after finishing 0.79 seconds behind leader, and eventual winner, Lara Gut-Behrami in the women's super G event at the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games.
In the end the American was ninth, more than half a second off third-placed Michelle Gisin's pace.
Shiffrin produced a clean run on Friday (11 February), lost some speed in the middle section, but managed to complete her first race at this Olympics after failing to finish her first two events in giant slalom and slalom.
"It feels pretty incredible to get past the fourth or fifth gate on the hill," Shiffrin said with a laugh to European broadcasters Eurosport-Discovery.
"I also wasn't skiing to finish, I was pushing, and I was skiing good turns, strong turns. It's where I should be, even a little bit better with no practice in the event, but I had a very good inspection, I think the right mentality, and the right intention.
"I really wasn't sure about that, because so far the last couple of weeks... it's not been going how I expected, and I'm not even talking about results, I'm talking about the feeling that I had on my skis, it was just different than I thought it might be.
"Today it started to line up again, and that's a big relief actually."
Shiffrin: I would have never expected that humans could be so kind
Shiffrin considered skipping the event, but decided to enter the race after training on the competition slope.
In the last few days, she received an outpouring of support messages, including from fellow Olympic champions Simone Biles and Lindsey Vonn.
"I don't feel like I deserve it. It's been insane how many people have reached out and just trying to cheer me up," the American said on NBC.
"I would never have expected to feel in this moment, severely underperforming in an Olympics...that humans could be so kind. ... It's the most surprising thing of my Olympic experience, how kind people have been in the face of my failure. I mean, it is failure - it's okay to say that. I'm okay with that. And I'm sorry for it, but I also was trying, and I'm proud of that.
"I think today I proved to myself that I can still trust my instincts a bit, and that's really, really huge."
Before the race, the 26-year-old had posted on Twitter: "I’ve had a lot of support over the last 48 hours and I have to thank everyone for that."
Then she added: "Today is Super G, and Super G is fun. I can’t express how grateful I am to have the opportunity to refocus on a new race, in the sport that I love so much. Onward."
Shiffrin had planned to compete in all five individual events at Beijing 2022 and there are still two races left: the downhill (15 Feb) and the alpine combined (17 Feb).
She is also keen on entering the team event scheduled for Saturday 19 February.
Four years ago in PyeongChang, the six-time world champion didn't compete in the downhill and Super G, after bad weather had caused a schedule change.
The women's downhill will take place on Tuesday 15 February at 11:00 local time (4:00 CET, 19:00 PST on Thursday), with the mandatory practice runs starting on Saturday (12 February).