Winter Olympics 2022 - Mikaela Shiffrin ends Beijing campaign without a medal as Austria secure mixed parallel gold

Mikaela Shiffrin ended Beijing 2022 without a medal as the USA were denied bronze in the mixed parallel team event. Having missed out on medal contention in her individual events at a disappointing Winter Olympics for one of the great technical skiers of all-time, Shiffrin's last hope came over the tight twists of the parallel slalom, contested at great speed over a short distance leaving no room for errors.

Ad/> And, in truth, the outstanding American was again a little way below her best, struggling to attack as she would have liked and losing her final three runs in the best-of-four format, including in the bronze final as Norway pipped the USA. Beijing 2022Mixed team parallel finals rearranged for Sunday after high winds postpone eventYESTERDAY AT 02:21 In the big final, top seeds Austria beat Germany in a clash of neighbouring nations to upgrade their silver from four years ago.

Introduced at the last Olympics in Pyeongchang, the mixed format sees each team name two women and two men to compete in consecutive, head-to-head parallel slaloms, with the combined total of the best women's time and best men's time from each team serving as a tie-breaker in the event of a 2-2 draw. The event had been delayed by a day due to strong winds at the Yanqing National Alpine Skiing Centre, but while the trees beyond the starting huts swayed to the rhythms of the breeze, it was in glorious sunshine that the skiers embarked towards the gates of a tricky little slope.

/> Austria were granted a bye into the quarter-finals as top seeds, which meant it was Slovenia and Canada who kicked proceedings off — a tight duel between the two quartets ended tied at two wins apiece, the Slovenians advancing with the quicker combined time. All of