Mikaela Shiffrin Slips 11 Seconds In: ‘I Won’t Ever Get Over This’

Mikaela Shiffrin’s quest for history “was finished basically before it even started.”

Headed down “The Ice River” just after 9:30 a.m. on Monday trying to become the first U.S. skier ever to win three Olympic gold medals, Shiffrin—11 seconds into her 2022 Games debut—slipped. She says her skis gave way, and “well, the day was finished basically before it even started.”

Shiffrin won the giant slalom at the 2018 Olympics and has raced it dozens of times since, but Monday was her first time not finishing the course.

“Um… I… it’s hard to know exactly,” she said of what happened. “We can go to a lot of different places where we can put the blame.” However, she didn’t use her prior back injury or COVID infection as excuses—she even said the course conditions were “really good.” She did apologize and say it was a “huge disappointment.”

“I won’t ever get over this,” Shffrin said before she rattled off a list of her other did not finishes. “It’s really heartbreaking.”

“I’m not gonna cry about this,” she added. “Because that’s just wasting energy. My best chance for the next races is to move forward, to refocus.”

After about 10 minutes of brutal honest and self-reflection with reporters, she hugged a teammate and set out to train for Wednesday’s slalom.