BEIJING — Mikaela Shiffrin completed the super-G at the Beijing Olympics in a time way out of medal contention. But for the first time in three races at the 2022 Games, she made it across the finish.
The two-time Olympic Alpine gold medalist crossed the line at the bottom of a course known as The Rock in 1 minute, 14.30 seconds.
That left the 26-year-old American more than a half-second behind gold medalist Lara Gut-Behrami of Switzerland and in ninth place overall after all 44 entrants had taken their turns down the slope.
Shiffrin called her skiing "very uncertain."
A three-time Olympic medalist, Shiffrin is one of Team U.S.A.'s most recognizable athletes. While expectations were high for her performance at the Beijing Games, she's been very open about the toll stress has taken on her mental health.
In an interview with The Associated Press this month, she spoke about the pressures facing Olympics athletes and concerns raised by gymnast Simone Biles and swimmer Caleb Dressel during the Tokyo Games last summer.
"But it's not like rainbows and sunshine and butterflies and everything that people sort of say," Shiffrin told the AP. "They're like, 'Wow, that looks like it was so much fun!' And you're like, 'Well, it was fun to cross through the finish line and, in the next five seconds, see the green light (signaling the fastest time) and comprehend that. That was a fun thing.' And the rest of the day — the whole rest of the day — was really, really pretty stressful and uncomfortable."
