Mikaela Shiffrin entered the slalom portion of the Alpine combined race in fifth place on Thursday after an impressive downhill run and was looking to reverse her Olympic woes with a medal in her last individual race of the 2022 Beijing Games.
She had previously called her first races in Beijing a “failure,” and a podium finish would have been a fairy-tale ending and the ultimate redemption.
But it wasn’t to be.
The 26-year-old American crashed out of the race about 10 gates into the run and recorded her third “did not finish” at the Olympics. She appeared to be fighting tears on the side of the course after she picked herself up.
Switzerland’s Michelle Gisin ultimately won the gold, with her fellow countrywoman Wendy Holdener earning silver. Italy’s Federica Brignone won the bronze.
“Oh man, I don’t know if anybody has failed that hard with so many opportunities maybe in the…
