Mikaela Shiffrin continued the gold streak for the Americans at the Winter Olympics in PyeongChang by taking the top spot on the podium for the women’s giant slalom on Thursday.
(Photo credit: DIMITAR DILKOFF/AFP/Getty Images)
There is not a single skier competing on the slopes that came into the 2018 games with more pressure than Shiffrin and she lived up to the hype in her first competition.
After several wind delays in the giant slalom competition Shiffrin and the other skiers finally hit the slopes on Thursday, and while the 22-year-old American feels the event is not one of her best, she still came out on top. (SLIDESHOW: Step Aside, Lindsey Vonn. All Eyes Are On This American Skier At The Winter Olympics)
GOLDEN GIRL Mikaela Shiffrin takes gold in giant slalom! #BestOfUS #WinterOlympics https://t.co/KX4CHncv2t pic.twitter.com/zHJudPT4i0
— NBC Olympics (@NBCOlympics) February 15, 2018
“It’s been a mental strain the last couple days, thinking we’re going to race and then not racing. So to finally have the race actually happen today, I was like, ‘Well, I really hope that I actually can do it when the time comes that we finally race.’ And, yeah, I did,” she said. “So now we got the ball rolling. I’m really excited for tomorrow.”
Shiffrin will race in the slalom on Friday, which is her best event by far and a huge part of the reason she is the best female skier in the world right now. The two-time Olympian has dominated the event for five years, winning three world titles and a gold medal at the 2014 Sochi Games.
(Photo by Dan Istitene/Getty Images)
After the slalom on Friday Shiffrin will look forward to the downhill and combined competition, but has decided to skip Saturday’s super-G because of the lack of time to properly prepare.
If you missed her gold medal run in the early hours of Thursday morning over here in the states, there’s plenty more to look forward to.
