Mikaela Shiffrin's dominant start makes her must-watch at these Winter Olympics
Mikaela Shiffrin finally got a chance to ski on Thursday in Pyeongchang, and it was worth the wait.
The 22-year-old American star captured gold in the women's giant slalom, finishing with a two-run total time of 2:20.02. Shiffrin's medal quest at these Games was delayed twice by weather, with the giant slalom originally set for Sunday before being rescheduled for Thursday and the slalom set for Wednesday before being rescheduled for Friday.
While Shiffrin will go for another gold in the slalom Friday, an event she won as an 18-year-old in Sochi in 2014, she will not be gunning for five medals at these Games. Shiffrin will pull out the Super-G race, her mother and coach, Eileen, said Thursday — the result of postponements compressing the skiing schedule.
The pressure is still high on Shiffrin, but there's no telling how high she can go at these Olympics. She's found ways to combat the pressure: stay off social media, for one. Another way to lower stress? Take a nap between your runs on the way to the gold.
Other medals you missed
Figure skating: Aliona Savchenko and Bruno Massot of Germany captured gold in mixed pairs figure skating, the country's first gold in the event since 1952. The duo ended with a score of 235.90, earning Savchenko an elusive gold in her fifth Games. China’s Sui Wenjing and Han Cong took silver with 235.47 while Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford of Canada took bronze with 230.15.
Skiing: Norway took the top two spots in the men's downhill, with Aksel Lund Svindal taking gold in 1:40.25 while Kjetil Jansrud took silver with 1:40.37. Beat Feuz of Switzerland grabbed bronze in 1:40.43.
Snowboarding: Pierre Vaultier of France repeated as gold medalist in men's snowboard cross. Jarryd Hughes of Australia took silver and Regino Hernandez of Spain took bronze.
Cross country: Ragnhild Haga of Norway won gold in women's 10K freestyle cross country with a time of 25:00.5. Charlotte Kalla of Sweden took silver, her second medal of these games, with a time of 25:20.8. Norway's Marit Bjoergen split bronze with Finland's Krista Parmakoski, giving Bjoergen her second medal of these games and extending her women's Winter Games overall medal record to 12. Both racers posted a time of 25:32.4.
Women's biathlon: Hanna Oberg of Sweden won gold in the women's 15K individual biathlon with a time of 41:07.2. Anastasia Kuzmina of Slovakia took silver in 41:31.9 and Laura Dahlmeier of Germany took bronze with a 41:48.4.
Speed skating: In the men's 10,000-meter race, Canada's Ted-Jan Bloemen won gold, followed by Jorrit Bergsma of the Netherlands and Nicola Tumolero of Italy.
Men's biathlon: Johannes Thingnes Boe of Norway took gold in the men's 20K individual, winning with a time of 48:03.8. Slovenia's Jakov Fak won silver, and bronze went to Austria's Dominik Landertinger.
Luge: In the mixed team relay, Germany won gold, followed by Canada and Austria. The United States was clinging to bronze, but Germany's winning run pushed the Americans off the podium.
Stories you missed
- Canada beat the U.S. women's hockey team 2-1 in a group game on Thursday. Are the Canadians in the Americans' heads?
- Meanwhile, what do the U.S. men have to do to beat Slovakia?
- Are Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un at the Olympics?! Nope ... but it sure looks like them!
- Great Britain's skeleton suits have created a bit of controversy at the Games.
- After Shaun White "gossip" comment, his sexual harassment accuser's attorney had some strong words for the gold medalist.
- It was revealed that Shaun White, after being accused of sexual harassment, hired the firm in 2016 that has also gone on to represent Harvey Weinstein and others amid allegations.
- South Korea's ski industry is getting its moment in the sun ... but not without some cost.
- Meet Chloe Kim's Valentine: Chloe Kim.
- Speaking of Kim, a radio host was fired for his crass comments made about the 17-year-old gold medalist.
- More broadcast blunders: Bode Miller blames skier's bad results on marriage, then apologizes.
- Cheeseheads in Pyeongchang? You betcha!
- Are there frosty relations between U.S. and Russian skeleton racers?
- U.S. skeleton racer John Daly is the 'man with the $1 million haircut.'