Mikaela Shiffrin finishes 9th in super-G in 3rd Olympic race

BEIJING (AP) — Mikaela Shiffrin completed the super-G at the Beijing Olympics on Friday in a time way out of medal contention — but for the first time in three races at the 2022 Games, she made it to the finish.

The two-time Olympic Alpine gold medalist crossed the line at the bottom of a course known as The Rock with a time of 1 minute, 14.30 seconds. That left her 0.79 seconds behind champion Lara Gut-Behrami of Switzerland and in ninth place overall after all 44 entrants had taken their turns down the slope.

Shiffrin failed to finish her opening run in the two-leg events that preceded the super-G in Beijing: the giant slalom and the slalom, both of which she won at past Olympics. On Friday, she called her skiing “a little bit uncertain — or very uncertain.”

“Training has felt really good, but when we got to the race, it felt different than I thought it would to make the turns. Different enough that I didn't finish,” she said with a bit of a laugh. “A lot of disappointment over the last week. There’s a lot of emotions and not really easy to reset and know if I was up to the challenge today.”

The 26-year-old American never had entered a super-G at an Olympics before, although she did win a gold in the event at the 2019 world championship and a bronze at last year’s worlds.

“I didn’t think there was a very big chance to come in and win, or even medal, in this race," Shiffrin said. “It’s a really big relief to be here now in the finish. ... I wasn't skiing safe or anything. But I also did get to the finish and that’s really nice for my heart to know.”

Shiffrin actually started well enough Friday, reaching the initial check point in 12.66 seconds — ahead of Gut-Behrami’s pace.

But from there, Shiffrin lost touch with the