Undeterred Mikaela Shiffrin says, "I have won in my career and I'm going to win again."

The Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 were not what American alpine skiing star Mikaela Shiffrin expected – she’ll be the first to tell you that.

The 26-year-old went into the event as a two-time Olympic gold medallist and 73-time World Cup winner - including a record-setting 47 victories in slalom races.

But in Beijing, in three of the five races she entered she recorded DNFs. In the two races she made it to the finish line in, she recorded ninth (Super-G) and 18th-place (Downhill) finishes.

It was a rare moment when one of the sport’s most decorated didn’t do what she’s – for so long – made look so effortless.

“You can fail and not be a failure,” Shiffrin told Olympics.com in an interview.

Those words are reaffirmed by the likes of seven-time Olympic artistic gymnastics medallist Simone Biles, who, like Shiffrin, has pushed the boundaries of her sport.

“To get any level of even acknowledgment from Simone is insane because to me, she's so beyond, she's just an insane athlete,” said Shiffrin, referencing Biles’ support on social media throughout the Games. “And the fact that she said, ‘You're still one of the greatest athletes in the world, and this Olympics didn't change any of that.' It means a lot to hear.”

Biles entered last summer’s Tokyo 2020 Olympics Games, held in the summer of 2021, with similar expectations to Shiffrin. With the potential for as many as five gold medals, Biles experienced what gymnasts call ‘the twisties,’ where the mind and body connection starts to break down. Biles found herself unsure she could execute many of the moves she had made famous in the sport.

She withdrew from four individual finals in order to prioritise her mental health, before returning to competition on the final night to