“I will not cry now”

ffive starts, five wins? For ski superstar Mikaela Shiffrin, the Olympic mega-project began with a bitter disappointment at the very first challenge. In the giant slalom, the American failed at the seventh goal early on Monday morning and was eliminated after ten seconds.

But even without Shiffrin, the podium was prominent at the end of the day. Victory was secured by the best of the season: 29-year-old Sara Hector from Sweden, who also won three of the last four giant slalom races in the World Cup, secured the first individual title of her career in a total time of 1:55.69 minutes.

Silver went to the experienced Italian Federica Brignone (+0.28), who had already won Olympic bronze in Pyeongchang. And world champion Lara Gut-Behrami from Switzerland, with the fastest time in the second round, moved up to third place (+0.72). Emma Aicher, the only German participant, finished 21st, 4.83 seconds behind.

And Mikaela Shiffrin? The American, who traveled from Pyeongchang as the Olympic giant slalom champion, was composed when she reported on her mishap from the first run: “I’m not going to cry now,” she said, “it’s just a waste of energy.”

It is extremely rare for the otherwise constant Shiffrin not to reach the finish line in a race. She was last eliminated in a giant slalom in January 2018 in the World Cup at Plan de Corones. After that she had climbed the podium 17 times in 27 World Cup giant slaloms, and she was the winner in eight races. She also won silver and bronze at World Championships and gold at the Olympics during this period. However, she suffered a corona infection around the turn of the year 2021/22 and lost a little of her usual dominance after her comeback at the beginning of January.

And this time? “I missed a goal and paid the highest possible price for it,” she said as matter-of-factly as possible. The day was over “before it had really started for me”.

The aggressive, artificial snow on the Olympic mountain Xiaohaituo does not forgive any mistakes, this knowledge, which could still be useful to her in the further course of the games, took Shiffrin out of the race. And at least the 26-year-old found comfort from her mother. “You gave it your all and had a real fire,” said Eileen Shiffrin. And the failed star showed greatness: Mikalea Shiffrin radioed her teammates from the target area, and – you could say: typically American – when Nina O’Brien finished the first round in a strong sixth place, Shiffrin cheered like one cheerleader.

But O’Brien had to pay bitterly for the tough conditions on the artificial snow slope in the second round. At the penultimate gate, the outside ski was pulled, which immediately went in its own direction. The athlete’s legs were pulled apart, she fell through the last gate and slid to the finish with visible pain, where she lay for a long time and had to be carried out of the stadium with a suspected knee injury.

Already on Wednesday (3.15 a.m. CET in the FAZ live ticker about the Olympics, on ZDF and on Eurosport) the slalom is on the program, the next big challenge for Mikaela Shiffrin, the aesthete on skis. “I have to look ahead, I still have a lot to do,” she said. And with the Olympic slalom she also has an unfinished business: in Pyeongchang four years ago, she surprisingly finished fourth. And then there were tears .