2022 Olympics: Defending giant slalom champion Mikaela Shiffrin wipes out in opening run
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Mikaela Shiffrin, the giant slalom gold medalist in the 2018 Winter Olympics, wiped out in her opening run in this year's event in Beijing. Shiffrin skied out of the women's giant slalom after she hit the slope trying to turn at the fifth gate, making it the first race she hasn't finished since January 2018.
Shiffrin said she hopes to compete in the next four individual events in Beijing, starting with the slalom on Wednesday. She won gold in that event in 2014, making her the youngest Olympic slalom champion.
"It's a huge disappointment, not even counting the medals," Shiffrin said after Monday's wipeout. "The easiest thing to say is I skied a couple of good turns and skied one turn a bit wrong and really paid the hardest of consequences for that." She said she can't afford to dwell on this lost medal, with two more weeks left in the Games. "I'm sorry that that was the performance I did today, but that also happens," she added.
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Team USA did pick up two silver medals on Sunday, USA Today reports: Julia Marino took silver in women's slopestyle snowboarding and Jaelin Kauf in women's moguls. The U.S. women's hockey team also beat Switzerland and will face Canada next.
Correction: This story has been updated to reflect Shiffrin's slalom win, which came in 2014, not 2018.
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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
