It was a heartbreaking end, Mikaela Shifrin’s second early exit from the Olympics in three days. But Shifrin was not ready to move on. Not yet.
Disappointed and confused by the confused dream of the Beijing Olympics in real time, Shifrin sat in the snow by the slalom track on Wednesday morning and buried his head between his bent knees. She stayed there for more than 20 minutes while some of her rivals passed by, lost in thought and disappointment, trying to figure out what had gone wrong.
When he finally came down the hill, Shifrin had no answers.
“I intended to do my best skiing and the fastest turns,” Shifrin told reporters, fighting back tears. “But to do that, I had to push the line, the tactics. And then it’s really on the border. And things are happening so fast that there really was no room to slip, even a little. “
Nothing in Shifrin’s professional career foreshadowed the series of quick and complete disappointments she endured this week on the biggest stage in her sport. Slalom is the most terribly accurate discipline in skiing, but for Shifrin, a two-time Olympic champion and the most decorated slalom skier in history, it was almost unattainable to last just five seconds in her best race.
As Shifrin wiped away the tears on live television, friends and strangers gathered on her side. Her friend, Norwegian ski star Alexander Aamod Kilde, posted a supporting message on Instagram along with an image of Shifrin sitting alone in the snow.
“When you look at this picture, you can come up with so many statements, meanings and thoughts,” he wrote. Most of you probably look at it, saying, “She lost it,” “She can’t stand the pressure,” or “What happened?” which is the top. an athlete does! It’s part of the game and it’s happening. “
Gymnast Simone Bailes, who withdrew from several events at the Tokyo Games last summer due to a mental block that prevented her from competing safely, offered three white hearts on Twitter.
Shifrin has three Olympic races left if she decides to take part in them, something that no longer seems certain.
“I will try to reset again and maybe this time I will try to reset better,” she said. “But I also don’t know how to do it better, because I just don’t know. I’ve never been in this position before and I don’t know how to handle it.
“If I’m going to ski at the fifth gate, okay, what’s the point?”
As she spoke, the slalom continued without her. Petra Vlhova, who had a sharp rivalry with Shifrin this season, returned after a fickle first round to win the gold, becoming the first medalist at the Alpine Olympics in Slovakia. Austria’s Katarina Linsberger was in second place with eight hundredths of a second behind, just faster than Switzerland’s Wendy Holderner, who won bronze.
Perform 1
|
Running 2
|
Time
|
||
---|---|---|---|---|
Slovakia |
52.89 | 52.09 | 1: 44.98 | |
Austria |
52.83 | 52.23 | 1: 45.06 | |
Switzerland |
52.65 | 52.45 | 1: 45.10 |
Shifrin, who was expected to compete for multiple gold medals in those games, had trouble running on Wednesday almost from the start, her legs and arms out of sync, her balance swaying and her gates seeming to get closer. than he could react. She almost fell, skirting the fourth gate, and her usually calm demeanor was upset. As she passed the fifth gate, she headed for the side of the trail, knowing that her race was over. She was disqualified before the sixth door.
In an interview, she explained what she was thinking as she sat on the side of the aisle. She said she was overwhelmed by the feeling that she had deceived herself and others.
“I was trying to look back and remember the last days,” she said, “and to think about what I was trying to do and what I was doing with my skis, which would suggest pushing a little too hard on the fifth gate, for yes I can’t stay on course. “
Shifrin, 26, won a slalom at the 2014 Olympics and has since dominated the race, winning more World Cup slalom races, 47, than any other man or woman. She rarely makes mistakes; when she failed to finish the slalom last month, it was the first time in nearly four years.
Shifrin spent the last few weeks talking about external obstacles. She tested positive for coronavirus in December and feared the logistical problems of arriving in China.
In her early days at the Games, she often discussed the wind and the coincidence of what might happen in a stormy mountain. But none of these factors came into play, and on Wednesday she tried to dismiss them.
“This is not the end of the world,” Shifrin said, trying to laugh at himself – or perhaps trying to convince himself. “And it’s so stupid to care so much. But I feel I have to ask a lot now. “
Shifrin has won three medals at two previous Olympics, but these are the first since her father, Jeff Shifrin, died two years ago. This did not escape her mind as she prepared to leave the race area.
“I’d really like to call him right now,” Shifrin said.