Winter Olympics 2022: "I feel ridiculous", ski star Mikaela Shiffrin missed out on her Games

" I feel ridiculous.

“The challenge was immense, probably too much, it is now a certainty, for Mikaela Shiffrin.

Announced star of these Games, the American was aiming for a medal in each individual event in Beijing.

Barring a podium in the team event, she will leave China empty-handed, after another failure on Thursday: when she was excellently launched in the combined, after a controlled descent, she made a mistake. on the slalom, letting go of any chance of a medal.

A shame for a champion whose consistency has always been one of the great strengths.

Fifth beat of the descent

For one round, during the night, spectators at the Yanqing Alpine Ski Center believed in the redemption of the great Mikaela Shiffrin.

Always in search of a medal, the native of Colorado released a descent of which she has the secret, in the middle of the specialists, on the combined.

With the fifth fastest time, just 56 hundredths off the best time, she managed to put herself in the best position for the second run, the slalom, her favorite discipline, of which she is four-time world champion.

😬 The nightmare continues for Mikaela Shiffrin in Beijing!

The American makes a mistake in the combined slalom and says goodbye to her last chance for an individual medal in China #ChaletClub #Beijing2022 pic.twitter.com/WhKapwA827

– Eurosport France (@Eurosport_FR) February 17, 2022

However, nothing went as planned.

“In theory, it's a good position.

But I'm not completely confident in my slalom.

I have a recurring image of me on skis, getting out of the fifth gate,” Shiffrin said after his descent.

Her vision unfortunately took shape in this handset: after eight seconds of effort, a slight excavation unbalanced her and jolted her left then right, before sending her to the mat.

Third zero of his Olympics, after the giant and the slalom.

“It never happened to me”

Necessarily upset, the American did not shy away from the finish and spent long minutes at the microphone of the journalists.

"I had one of my best levels on skis here in Beijing," she said.

In training, on the descent, even in slalom.

And in the race, when it counts, I don't reach the line.

This has never happened to me in my career.

I don't believe there is anything to fix.

I just really, really screwed up.

Because I didn't think I had to win today, I had no pressure.

»

Read also Winter Olympics 2022: “It makes me question the last 15 years”, but what is happening to Mikaela Shiffrin?

“I had never had this experience of skiing well, but making mistakes.

And again, it wasn't even a mistake, I was just trying to find space, rhythm.

[…] Today, I tried to smile, to have fun, she explained, breaking with her tears at the end of the slalom, while she often seemed affected in certain races since the death of his father at the end of 2020. Even on the slalom, the first six gates, I said to myself “Oh, this is the feeling I want to have!

".

And I just wanted it to last a little longer.

»

Extremely rare faults

In the past, Shiffrin had distinguished herself by her extraordinary regularity: in her last 90 pre-Games races, between January 2018 and 2022, she reached the finish line 87 times.

His skiing went wrong at the worst moment, by far the most important moment in the United States, where everyone goes downhill once every four years.

He will still have one last chance to get a medal, during the mixed team parallel on Saturday.

2022 downhill silver medalist @goggiasofia left a note for @MikaelaShiffrin (along with her downhill skis) that read, “FLY MIKA, YOU CAN.”

When she saw the note, Mikaela almost started crying.

❤️🙏#StrongerTogether pic.twitter.com/9dD2KIdNAf

— US Ski & Snowboard Team (@usskiteam) February 17, 2022

Until then, Shiffrin will be able to count on the unfailing support of the rest of the skiers, who are very supportive of their popular gondola head.

For the descent of the combined, the triple winner of the big globe borrowed her skis from one of her competitors, Sofia Goggia.

On his spatulas, the Italian had stuck a little note, "Fly Mika, you can do it", which put him on the verge of tears.

On Twitter, she was immediately supported by former champion Lindsey Vonn after her race, who commented that she was "an amazing human being".

And that's probably what matters most to her.