Alpine skiing-'I didn't quite nail it', says Shiffrin after team combined near miss

CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy, Feb 10 : Mikaela Shiffrin said she would need to analyse fine margins after the American’s bid for an Olympic podium place fell short in the women’s team combined on Tuesday, when she produced only the 15th-fastest slalom run to leave her and teammate Breezy Johnson in fourth place.

Shiffrin, the most successful Alpine skier in World Cup history with a record 108 victories, arrived in Cortina in strong technical form after winning seven of the eight slaloms this season, and Johnson's downhill run put the U.S. at the top of the standings. 

“I didn’t quite nail it. I didn’t quite find a comfort level that allows me to produce full speed,” she told reporters.

“I want to be careful not to make excuses, because it's not really an excuse. It's just that the work we've done, I've been so prepared for so much, for all the slaloms this year. So there's something to learn from this day, and I'm gonna learn it.”

UNEXPECTED BEIJING BLANK

Four years after drawing an unexpected blank that left her doing a lot of soul-searching at the Beijing Olympics, the 30-year-old stressed the result was not about confidence but the subtle sensations that define elite Alpine ski racing, describing the sport as one of “fine margins and a lot of variables”, particularly in conditions the skiers had not encountered this season.

On soft, spring-like snow, Shiffrin never found her groove on the Olimpia delle Tofane.

“I guess it's, like, sometimes I'm really nervous, sometimes I'm settled, sometimes I don't even know what's a race day. So it's entirely different, and I don't even know how to explain it,” she said.

Shiffrin had drawn inspiration from Johnson’s downhill performance  — coming only two days after her teammate’s gold-medal