Mikaela Shiffrin Wins a Silver Medal in the Women’s Combined | Lindsey Vonn Failed to Finish Slalom

Steven Agar | | Post Tag for OlympicsOlympics
mikaela shiffrin, lindsey vonn, olympics, pyeongchang, women combined, silver
Vonn & Shiffrin. Credit: Tom Pennington/Getty; Tim Clayton/Corbis via Getty

Lindsey Vonnย and Mikaela Shiffrin faced off for the first, and last, time in theย 2018 Winter Olympics onย Thursday morning and afternoon (Wednesdayย night and Thursday morning stateside) in the womenโ€™s alpine skiing combined, a set of two races in which the fastest total time determines the winner.

Shiffrin earned silver, behind Switzerlandโ€™sย Michelle Gisin. Vonn, who came on strong in the first of the two races, missed a gate in the second and did not finish.

โ€œI hooked a tip which often happens,โ€ she told reporters afterward. โ€œI did that in the combined in the Olympics in Vancouver. So, thatโ€™s skiing.โ€

mikaela shiffrin, lindsey vonn, olympics, pyeongchang, women combined, silver
Vonn during the downhill race. Credit: JAVIER SORIANO/AFP/Getty Images

The competition pitted the Team USA members against one another and more than two dozen other racers in two runsย featuringย both of their individual strengths: downhill (Vonnโ€™s specialty) and slalom (where Shiffrin excels).

โ€œSlalom is tough for me,โ€ Vonn said after failing to finish. โ€œI fought really hard, but straddling is, unfortunately, something I do often, which is why I donโ€™t ski the event anymore.โ€

mikaela shiffrin, lindsey vonn, olympics, pyeongchang, women combined, silver
Shiffrin during her slalom run. Credit: JAVIER SORIANO/AFP/Getty Images

Vonn competed onย back-to-back days, having nabbed aย bronze medalย onย Wednesdayย morningย in the womenโ€™s downhill. Shiffrin won gold in the giant slalom last week duringย her 2018 Olympic debut.

Shiffrin was the 19th skier to go down the hill and ended the run 1.98 seconds behind Vonn after looking shaky coming out of the first traverse. She then placed third in the slalom, helping lift her to second overall.

โ€œIt feels good. Itโ€™s a nice way to end the Olympics,โ€ she told reporters. โ€œI started off with a bang and ending with a medal on the podium is really cool.โ€

mikaela shiffrin, lindsey vonn, olympics, pyeongchang, women combined, silver
Mikaela Shiffrin wins silver in the women’s combined. Credit: Andreas Rentz/Getty Images

The combined served as both a competition and a passing of the torch. The 33-year-old Vonn, long considered the greatest female ski racer of all time, and the most decorated, has said theย PyeongChang Olympics are likely her last, while 22-year-old Shiffrin is still early in her career but is already on a trajectory to potentially surpass Vonnโ€™s 81 World Cup wins.


Related Articles

Got an opinion? Let us know...