© Fabrice Coffrini
Mikaela Shiffrin walks off the piste at the end of the alpine skiing mixed team event at the Beijing Winter Olympics, after losing the bronze duel to Norway, on February 20, 2022 in Yanqing, near the Chinese capital.
Mikaela Shiffrin, the American star of alpine skiing, aspiring to take several medals from Beijing-2022 will leave without medals. In her sixth event at these Winter Olympics, at the close of the event, she could only finish fourth in the mixed team event.
The 26-year-old North American skier, who in the five individual events in which she participated had three eliminations, a ninth place in super giant and an eighteenth in descent, fell with her team, in her sixth and last medal opportunity, in the semifinals against Germany and in the fight for bronze with Norway.
© Fabrice Coffrini
Mikaela Shiffrin competes during the quarterfinals of the alpine skiing mixed team event at the Beijing Winter Olympics on February 20, 2022 in Yanqing, near the Chinese capital.
Shiffrin, 26, started the competition well, winning his career in this event with four duels, two between men and two between women, in the round of 16 against Slovakia.
© Christopher Stache
Therese Johaug holds a Norwegian flag after winning the 30km cross-country skiing event at the Beijing Winter Olympics on February 20, 2022 in Zhangjiakou, near the Chinese capital.
But then, to continue within the nightmare that these Games have meant for her, to which she arrived with the intention of leaving China as a multi-medallist, she lost her next three matches.
The duel for bronze ended balanced between the United States and Norway (2-2), but the tiebreaker was favorable for the Scandinavians, world champions of this team event, because in case of equality on the scoreboard, the best times of each best male and female competitor.
– Farewell without disappointment –
Shiffrin, who had claimed after her third elimination for going off course in the medley that she felt ridiculous, tried to be positive as she bid farewell to the Games.
“I am not disappointed. I have had many moments of disappointment in these Games. Today is not one of them. Today is my favorite memory,” said the American skier.
“It was the best possible way I could imagine to finish the Games, skiing with such great teammates,” concluded the American.
Shiffrin had not been eliminated in any event in her two previous Olympic participations (2014 and 2018) and now she did it triple.
In Beijing-2022 he was unable to increase his record of three Olympic medals, with two gold medals (slalom in 2014, giant in 2018) and one silver (combined in 2018).
A prodigy of regularity, to the point of having won more than a third of the tests she has played in the World Cup, the skier from Colorado came to the Games after two difficult years, marked by the accidental death of her father in February 2020, and then a long back injury.
© Anthony Wallace
Russia’s Anton Slepishev (L) and Finland’s Sakari Manninen battle for the puck during the ice hockey final of the Beijing Winter Olympics on February 20, 2022 in the Chinese capital.
Austria would end up achieving gold by beating Germany in the final (2-2), prevailing in the time comparison.
With a third podium finish and a second title, Austrian Johannes Strolz (gold in the combined, second in the slalom) finished as the alpine skier with the most medals at the Games.
In the other tests of the final day of the Games, the Norwegian Therese Johaug achieved her third gold in Beijing-2022 by winning the 30 km in cross-country skiing, allowing her country to consolidate its first place on the medal board, with 16 Titles.
With bronze in the alpine mixed team parallel event, Norway finished with 37 medals.
– Triumphant farewell to Norway –
The Norwegian joined the closed circle of triple Olympic champions at these Games, along with another long-distance runner, the Russian Alexander Bolshnov, the Norwegian biathlete Marte Roeiseland and the Dutch speed skater Irene Schouten, behind the only athlete to win four times in Beijing, the Norwegian Johannes Boe in biathlon.
The surprise of the day came from Finland when they won the men’s ice hockey title for the first time in their history, after defeating the Russian team in the final (2-1).
For his part, the German Francesco Friedrich, who had already won the two-man bobsleigh event, also won the four-man, achieving the double as in 2018.
Friedrich equaled his compatriot Andre Lange’s record with four Olympic titles.
The 31-year-old German can now be considered the greatest bobsleigh driver in history.
Germany won nine of the ten events held at the Yanqing track in luge, skeleton and bobsleigh.
Of a total of 30 medals awarded in the three disciplines, Germany won 16.
Ultimately, the UK took women’s curling gold by beating Japan 10-3 in the final, their only Olympic title in a sport invented in Scotland.
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