American alpine skier Mikaela Shiffrin will compete in her fifth event of the 2022 Games early on Thursday morning, seeking a place atop the podium that has so far eluded her in Beijing.
The 26-year-old and three-time Olympic medalist came into the game with confidence and determination, and was a heavy medal favorite, however her first two runs ended in unfortunate disqualifications or DNFs (‘did not finish run’).
Shiffrin “skied out” of her first two races, leaving America baffled. First, Shiffrin skied off course in the giant slalom and then she missed an early gate and failed to finish the women’s slalom.
Nonetheless, Shiffrin made a comeback during her third event where she placed ninth in Super-G.
She even went on to make the bold move of competing in downhill for the first time on Monday, where she timed in at 1:34.36, securing 18th place.
She plans to continue this comeback, looking to earn a podium position this time. She will be competing in women's combined Thursday morning, where she defends the Olympic silver and World championship. Shiffrin geared up for women's combined by setting the fastest time in a downhill training session on Wednesday.
She will finish off her time at in Beijing with Friday’s mixed team parallel slalom event, which will bring her to a record total of six events in this year at the Games.
This would make Shiffrin only the second woman to compete in six alpine skiing events at a single Winter Olympics, joining Slovakia’s Petra Vlhova’s record-breaking Games in 2018.
Watch Shiffrin in combined slalom on Peacock, NBCOlympics.com or click below. The event will begin at 1 a.m. EST on Thursday.
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