When it was time to say goodbye to "The Rock", the downhill run, and "Ice River", that of the technical events, two shivers ran through the few dozen followers gathered in Yanqing, for the last individual downhill skiing event. under a white and icy sky.

There was the clamor hailing Michelle Gisin, so dazzling in the slalom round that she caught up with her cautious descent (12th in qualifying) to win ahead of her compatriot Wendy Holdener, at 1 sec 05, and the Italian Federica Brignone , at 1 sec 85.

But a few minutes before, there had been amazement at the new exit from the track of the big American favorite, Mikaela Shiffrin, after a descent yet full of panache (5th in qualifying), wearing skis loaned by the Italian Sofia Goggia.

Olympic vice-champion of the specialty, the American left after ten gates the slalom yet traced by her coach, Mike Day, before descending very slowly, still incredulous.

Swiss raid

"It's as if around 60% of the retirements of my entire career had happened here, at these Olympic Games", noted the champion with the three big globes (2017, 2018, 2019), prodigy of regularity at the point of having won more than a third of the World Cup events she has contested (73 wins).

The 26-year-old American had already been eliminated last week after three giant gates, from which she had won gold at the 2018 Olympics in Pyeongchang, then had made a mistake at the same stage of the slalom, where she had been crowned at the Sochi 2014 Olympics.

American Mikaela Shiffrin after her elimination in the alpine combined slalom at the Beijing Olympics, February 17, 2022 Fabrice COFFRINI AFP

"I knew my plan, I was focused, I was skiing well, but it still doesn't work", noted the skier from Vail (Colorado), ensuring that she did not feel any particular "pressure".

If this ski legend is going to leave the Games for the first time without an individual medal, Michelle Gisin joins a unique club: that of skiers with more Olympic titles (now two) than World Cup victories (one in slalom end of 2020).

Already a bronze medalist in super-G, the 28-year-old Swiss brings the family loot to four Olympic medals, including three gold, since her older sister Dominique won the downhill at the 2014 Sochi Olympics (tied with Slovenian Tina Maze).

left eighth

Exhausted this season by mononucleosis triggered in the summer, the skier from Engelberg, in the small canton of Obwalden, embellishes the incredible Swiss harvest in alpine skiing, with a fifth title (golden descents for men and women, women's super-G and men's giant), which no other nation had ever achieved.

Finally, in this discipline queen of versatile skiers, Gisin joins in history the Croatian Janica Kostelic, who had achieved the same double in combined (2002, 2006), and the German Maria Riesch (2010, 2014).

By adorning herself with silver, Wendy Holdener pocketed her fifth Olympic medal in two editions, while Federica Brignone, second in the giant but disappointed by her results in speed, finished with a bronze medal.

Frenchwoman Romane Miradoli during the downhill of the alpine combined at the Beijing Olympics, February 17, 2022 Fabrice COFFRINI AFP

On the French side, Romane Miradoli was eliminated in the slalom after setting the fourth fastest time in the downhill, and Laura Gauché took eighth place in the event at 4 sec 37 from Michelle Gisin.

"We don't see where we are stepping, it's white day, it's really nothing to play for. I'm disgusted," reacted Miradoli, who however emerges "full of positive energy" from his Games.

"Very tired", Laura Gauché was delighted with her second Top 10 after the descent (10th), and leaves "with confidence for the end of the season".

© 2022 AFP