2022 Olympics: Defending giant slalom champion Mikaela Shiffrin wipes out in opening run

published 7 February 2022

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.

YouTube

Watch On

"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.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Explore More

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.