"The girl who failed could also fly," Mikaela Shiffrin wrote on Twitter during the week, alluding to her Olympic eliminations in slalom and giant slalom while also indicating that she would still attack again.

The accompanying picture shows the American jumping in downhill skiing.

"The track is spectacular and I've reconsidered the shit of the last few days," was another announcement from Shiffrin: "It's time to attack straight and come down."

Achim Dreis

sports editor.

  • Follow I follow

And she did quite well in downhill skiing in the alpine combination.

Fifth place, medals within reach.

She rode the downhill skis of her brand colleague Sofia Goggia from Italy, who had won silver on these same boards a few days ago despite a knee injury, and who gave her a touching message: "Fly Mika, you can". Goggia noted on a note that she left on the skis.

Shiffrin was once again on the verge of tears, but this time with joy.

But the uncertainty from the Olympic Games, which she had so far failed to do, went deeper, as was shown in the combination slalom afterwards.

As soon as she warmed up, she caught up and the competition didn't get any better.

A small wave threw the leader of the overall World Cup so out of rhythm this time that she approached the following hairpin combination far too straight and threaded it again.

It was all over in ten seconds.

She slipped her butt through the snow and had failed on her own terms for the third time at these Winter Games.

She scored 13 goals this time, seven in giant slalom and four in slalom.

Again gold for Switzerland

The gold medal was again won by a Swiss woman, it was the fifth gold at these Olympic Games for the Swiss Alpines.

And again it was Michelle Gisin, who was Olympic champion in the combination in 2018.

The 28-year-old moved up from twelfth place in the downhill with a clear best time and won in a total time of 2:25.67 minutes with a clear lead ahead of her teammate Wendy Holdener (+1.05) and Italy's Federica Brignone (+ 1.85).

Only 26 participants had entered the last alpine individual race at these winter games.

Just 15 were judged.

A German runner was not at the start.

The games in China remained problematic for the best skier of the century so far.

"It pisses me off," she said straight out in the Eurosport interview with former ski racer Irene Curtoni and confessed: "I don't understand it right now." She didn't even feel too much pressure, said the two-time Olympic champion from 2104 in slalom and 2018 in giant slalom: "I know how slalom works." Even if it didn't look like it at the moment.

She already wanted to be a skier when she was five, she recently said in a video on her Instagram page.

And not just any, but “the best in the world”.

She has long since succeeded, as shown by six world championship titles in three different disciplines, 73 individual World Cup victories and last but not least three triumphs in the overall World Cup.

But after eleven years of traveling to competitions in the skiing world, she keeps asking herself the constant question: “How much does this sport mean to me?” She gives the answer herself: “I want people to watch me because I love them inspire.”

The main inspiration was always her father, who gave her three golden rules: "Be nice, think first, have fun." A triad that went hand in hand with a clear work ethos: "Work hard for what you really want, and make it happen.” She did as promised and became the best in the world.

But this medal also has a downside: "Because I was doing what I love, I missed a lot of time with my father."

Jeff Shiffrin died two years ago at 65 after a domestic accident.

Mikaela abruptly interrupted her ski season back then and since then she has definitely been a changed person, doubting more than ever and often struggling with her destiny as a skier.

"I think about quitting almost every day."

Another problem for the serial winner, who achieved 116 podium finishes in the World Cup within a decade and finished in the top ten a further 49 times, bringing in prize money of a good 4.3 million Swiss francs, was the enormous expectations of the audience.

"If I don't win, people say: She's human," she recently complained, only to now assert: "Yes, I'm human!"

On the artificial snow slopes of Yanqing, she more than clearly succeeded in confirming this fallibility: Of course, she is not finished with the Olympic Games yet.

After three eliminations and ninth and 18th place in the Super-G and the downhill, she also wants to compete in the team competition on Saturday (4:00 a.m. CET in the FAZ live ticker for the Olympics, on ARD and on Eurosport).

"If you take me with you," she said with an American laugh: "At the moment I'm more of a risk factor."