BEIJING, China — Two-time Olympic champion Mikaela Shiffrin’s second race at the Beijing Games ended even more quickly than her first.
Just like in her first event of these Olympics, the giant slalom, the American racer was done for the day within a matter of seconds.
Shiffrin appeared to yell out the moment she missed the gate in the slalom, which she won at the 2014 Sochi Games. She skied over the the edge of the course and sat down, bowing her head. She stayed there for several minutes.
According to the U.S. Ski & Snowboarding Team, 26-year-old Shiffrin is “OK, but disappointed” after the “heartbreaking” miss. Earlier, Shiffrin herself had called her disqualification from the opening leg of the giant slalom “a huge disappointment.”
Shiffrin has spoken openly about the pressure created by the weight of expectations — her own, of course, and those of fans, but also coaches, friends and family. She also is upfront about the burden of dealing with the accidental death of her father, Jeff, two years ago.
Shiffrin is trying to become the first Alpine ski racer from the United States to win three Olympic golds across a career.
She has said she hoped to enter all five individual events at Yanqing Alpine Skiing Center.
This is a developing story.