Every Olympics delivers its own crushing surprises, the ill-timed pulled hamstring, the jump a figure skater fails to land.
On Monday, under bright sunny skies in Yanqing, it was the American star Mikaela Shiffrin’s turn to experience that stunning, almost freakish heartbreak. But Shiffrin’s failure to survive an left turn early in her Beijing debut in the giant slalom did not have the drama of her sport’s violent crashes, or a star figure skater’s tumble to the ice.
One moment her skis looked a little shaky, and the next she was sliding on her left hip off the course. Shiffrin, who has rarely failed to finish a race in her 11 years as a professional skier, could not recover her footing in time to remain on course and was disqualified from the competition, which continues with a second run Monday afternoon.
In the 229 career Olympic, World Cup or world championship races that Shiffrin has entered, she has skied out of a racecourse just 14 times and has done so only three times in the last four years, according to NBC Sports.
Shiffrin, 26, had just pushed out of the gate toward a steep, icy pitch when she struggled to maintain her balance on a turn to her right. It was a small mistake but that bobble made her late for the next gate and as she tried to recover quickly she toppled to her left hip and skidded to a stop. Shiffrin, the defending champion in the event, was trying to become the first American skier to win three Alpine Olympic gold medals.
“I was pushing or I felt I was really pushing in those turns,” Shiffrin said of her start Monday. “It’s hard to know how it would have gone when you’re only four or five turns into the run. The day was basically finished before it even started. But I felt that I really had the right mentality. ”
“But it’s a huge disappointment, not even counting medals,” she said. “It’s a really good hill and really good conditions.”
Shiffrin has four races remaining in the Olympics, including her best event, the slalom, on Wednesday. But the giant slalom was seen as one of three good opportunities for her to win a medal, including a gold.
“I skied one turn a bit wrong and I paid the hardest consequence for that, but now I have to move forward because there’s lots to come this week,” Shiffrin, who left the finish area Monday for slalom training on another racecourse, said. “I’m not going to cry about this because that’s just wasting energy. My chance is to move forward and to refocus and I feel like I’m in a good place to do that.”
The first run leader was Sara Hector of Sweden, who leads the current World Cup giant slalom rankings. But four racers are within a second of Hector’s first run time. The second run that will conclude the event will be held Monday afternoon.
Shiffrin has three medals from two previous Games and would tie Julia Mancuso for the most Olympic Alpine medals by an American woman if she wins one more medal in Beijing. Bode Miller holds the overall U.S. record with six Alpine Olympic medals. Six is also the career record for most Olympic Alpine medals by a woman, which was accomplished by Janica Kostelic of Croatia and Anja Parson of Sweden.
Updates From the Alpine Center in Yanqing
Matthew Futterman reporting from Yanqing, China
Given the disappointment, Shiffrin was in remarkably decent spirits when she spoke with reporters after the crash.
“I was pushing,” she said. “The day was finished basically before it even started, I felt like I had the right mentality. I’m proud of those first five turns. But huge disappointment, not even counting medals, it’s just a really fun hill and really good conditions.”
Shiffrin went through a litany of possible explanations for the bad run, but ultimately said there was no concrete explanation. “I made a couple good turns and one turn I skied wrong.”
Matthew Futterman reporting from Yanqing, China
“I will never get over this,” Mikaela Shiffrin said shortly after falling in her first race at the Beijing Olympics.
She rattled off a series of other races where she was listed as “DNF” (did not finish). “I’m not going to cry about this,” she added. “That’s wasted energy.”
Matthew Futterman reporting from Yanqing, China
A buzz hummed across the finish area when Mikaela Shiffrin fell on her left hip at the top of her first run. It was visible both on the big screen and to the naked eye from the finish area, which has a clear view of the top of the course.
There were only a few dozen people in the stands. Usually there would have well over a thousand and a loud, collective groan would have bellowed out. But not today, and not here.
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