Mikaela Shiffrin skis out again, will leave Olympics without individual medal

Mikaela Shiffrin’s 2022 Olympics ended the way they started.

With the gold medal within reach after a strong downhill run, the American star crashed early on in her slalom run in the women’s alpine combined.

The competition represented the last of five medal opportunities for Shiffrin, who now ends her third Olympic campaign still one gold medal short of the American alpine skiing record.

The reigning silver medalist in the event, Shiffrin lasted just a few seconds, skidding down after less than a dozen gates.

Shiffrin earlier put herself in good position to capture that elusive third career gold medal, finishing the downhill — the first part of the alpine combined in fifth place and just a half-second off of first place, but behind skiers who are far better in downhill than slalom.

Considered her worst discipline, Shiffrin’s promising downhill performance put her within striking distance in slalom, her signature event.

“I mean it’s a good position. In theory, it’s a good place to be,” Shiffrin told NBC after her downhill run.

Shiffrin’s crash closed the book on a massively disappointing Olympics for the 26-year-old skiing phenom, who entered the tournament looking to cement her place atop the sport’s apex. Instead, she leaves Beijing without a medal, and without even completing three of her five events.

Accustomed to dominating the sport, Shiffrin’s struggles clearly seemed in her head. In fact, her crash was all she envisioned leading up to her final run.

“I’m not totally confident with the slalom. I have a recurring, like, image of myself skiing out on the fifth gate again,” Shiffrin told NBC after the downhill, laughing almost matter-of-factly. “So I’m just going to do my best, and try to relax a little bit because that’s when my best slalom skiing comes out and that’s when I would have the most fun, so I’m not placing any bets, but yeah I mean at least I have a chance, and that’s great.”

Shiffrin did accomplish her goal of competing in all five alpine events. After opening the Olympics by skiing out of the slalom and giant slalom, she managed a ninth-place finish in super-G and 18th-place finish in the downhill.

One good slalom run away from salvaging a disastrous two weeks, Shiffrin instead ended up on the snow.