Mikaela Shiffrin crashes out of Beijing 2022 slalom: I feel "pretty awful"
Double Olympic alpine ski champion skied out after just four gates in the first run, failing to complete course at second successive Beijing 2022 event.
Alpine Skiing
Mikaela Shiffrin's nightmare at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games continues.
Wearing bib number 7, the double Olympic alpine ski champion crashed out of the women's slalom on Wednesday (9 February) after completing just four gates in the first run that was set by her own coach, Mike Day.
It's the first time since 2011 that the American has failed to finish two successive technical event races. The defence of her giant slalom Olympic title on Monday had also lasted only a few seconds.
"I was pushing out of the start. I had full intentions of skiing as hard as I could", Shiffrin said.
"I slipped up a little bit on one turn and I just didn't give myself room to make any kind of error like that. I was planning to go on the most aggressive line, the most challenging line to ski.
"But I also know it's the fastest. I didn't make it past five gates, so I guess that's what happened."
"She didn't have the right direction heading into the next gate, which lead to her not finishing the race," Lindsey Vonn, who was commentating the race for NBC, tweeted.
Shiffrin: I won't feel awful for ever
After skiing out, Shiffrin sat on the side of the course, bowing her head on her knees and was later comforted by the U.S. team staff: "I guess I just wanted to, kind of pause, process, try to understand what I really did wrong," Shiffrin said.
"Makes me second guess the last 15 years, everything I thought I knew about my own skiing and slalom and racing mentally." Mikaela Shiffrin on NBC
Asked how she felt, the six-time world champion replied: "Pretty awful, yeah. But it won't feel awful for ever. I just feel pretty low right now."
"I've definitely been better, I've also been worse so, all in all pretty medium," she continued.
The American had said she plans to compete in all six events at the Yanqing Alpine Skiing Centre with the next race being the Super G on Friday (9 February).
"I will try to re-set again. Maybe try to re-set better this time but I also don't know how to do better because I just don't," the American admitted.
"I have never been in this position before and I don't know how to handle it."
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