2022 Olympics: Mikaela Shiffrin skids out in her final individual event at Beijing Games, won't medal

Mikaela Shiffrin
(Image credit: Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)

U.S. two-time gold medalist Mikaela Shiffrin failed to finish the Alpine Combined on Thursday after skidding out in the slalom portion of the two-leg event. She had the fifth-fasted run in the downhill portion, but slaloms — her specialty — have proved difficult for her in the Beijing Olympics. This is the third event she had to ski out of, and she did not place higher than ninth in the two events she completed.

Shiffrin entered the slalom leg "in fifth place after a strong downhill," The Washington Post reports. "Given the strengths of the skiers around her in the standings, she appeared poised for a redemptive medal, the likely favorite to win gold," but instead it ended with her "stomping around in a puff of snow, wondering how it went so wrong." Shiffrin won a silver in the combined four years ago and the gold in giant slalom, following her gold medal in the slalom in 2014.

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Peter Weber, The Week US

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.