Mikaela Shiffrin’s awful Beijing Olympics continued Thursday, as the U.S. skier suffered a third did-not-finish (DNF).

Shiffrin arrived at the Winter Olympics looking to win a third consecutive gold, but, after prior course mishaps, the 26-year-old has sustained 60% of her career DNFs at the National Alpine Skiing Centre this month.

After failing to finish in her favorite events—slalom and giant slalom, in which she won gold in 2014 and 2015—earlier in Beijing, she said she had no intentions of skiing safe so as just to finish.

“It was not actually that much to ask for from myself, and I was starting to do it, and then I was out anyway,” Shiffrin said. “I don’t really understand it, and I’m not sure when I’m going to have much of an explanation. I can’t explain to you how frustrated I am to not know what I can learn from today.”

Despite her disappointing (thus far) Olympics, Shiffrin started well in the combined event, placing fifth in the downhill course to put her within range of a podium finish heading into the decisive slalom run.

“I finally felt I could really trust my instincts in the track,” Shiffrin said after her downhill run.

“The most disappointing thing, beyond walking away from the Games with no individual medals … is that I had multiple opportunities to ski slalom on this track, and I failed in all of them.

“That’s disappointing for me, it’s disappointing for my whole team, for the coaches, for everybody who’s been working so hard, and it’s disappointing for anybody back home who woke up and thought, especially today, ‘Hey, she did a pretty good downhill run, set up pretty well for the slalom.’

“Right now, I just feel like a joke.”

She said she’ll be back on the slopes tomorrow to practice for her final shot at a medal in Saturday’s mixed team event, wherein she will become only the second woman to race all six alpine skiing events at the Winter Olympics.

“There’s going to be a whole chaotic mess of crap that people are saying about how I just fantastically failed these last couple of weeks in the moments that actually counted,” Shiffrin said. “It’s really strange, but I’m not even afraid of that right now, and maybe it’s because I don’t have any emotional energy to give any more.”

Swiss skier Michelle Gisin eventually took gold in the alpine combined, roaring back from 12th after the downhill course to clinch gold ahead of compatriot Wendy Holdener, who got silver.

Italy’s Federica Brignone took bronze, while Czech star Ester Ledecká placed fourth—dashing her hopes of a second gold medal (snowboarding giant slalom).

In the middle of heavy banned-substance hubbub, Russia’s Kamila Valieva Thursday turned in her worst performance of the games. Valieva fell several times and finished fourth in the women’s free skate competition.

The 15-year-old fell on two quad attempts while also losing balance in at least four other instances.

Her country-mates Anna Shcherbakova and Alexandra Trusova won gold and silver medals, respectively. Japan’s Kaori Sakamoto took the bronze.

On Monday, she was cleared to continue competing at the Winter Olympics. However, regardless of her finish, Valieva nor any of her teammates will see a medal ceremony, despite the fact that they’d be recognized as the winners.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport cleared Valieva to continue taking part after a hearing during which judges ruled that Valieva isn’t going to be suspended for the positive test.

Valieva tested positive on Christmas Day for the drug trimetzidine—typically a heart condition drug. However, the Swedish lab didn’t release the results until after the Games had already begun.

The 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics are underway. In case you missed any of Day 2’s action, below is a comprehensive roundup of the second day’s events.

– The second day of the Winter Olympics brought Team USA its first two medals of the Games (slopestyle snowboarding; moguls).

– The U.S. women’s hockey team made short work of Switzerland with an 8-0 shellacking, giving the Americans two straight games without allowing a goal.

– Jakara Anthony won Australia’s first Winter Olympics gold since 2010. American Jaelin Kauf and the ROC’s Anastasia Smirnova take silver and bronze, respectively.

–  Julia Marino put together arguably her career-best Run 2 with a cab double underflip 900 and a frontside double 1080 to claim snowboard slopestyle silver and Team USA’s first medal of the 2022 Games.

– Now a two-time Olympian, U.S. figure skater Karen Chen made her Olympic team event debut with the women’s short program segment, finishing fifth with a score of 65.20.

– American snowboarders Sean FitzSimons, Red Gerard and Chris Corning placed third, fifth, and 11th, respectively, in qualifying to advance to the final in slopestyle—with Gerard being the defending gold medalist.

– When moguls skier Kai Owens makes her Olympic debut in Beijing, it will be “the most full circle full circle.” She was born in China and adopted at 16 months by parents in the U.S.

– 2018 Olympic snowboard slopestyle champion Red Gerard discusses his hair, his famous sister, and the sport of snowboarding.

Belgian Olympian Kim Meylemans has been released from isolation in Beijing after pleading for help due to her treatment ahead of the games.

The 25-year-old skeleton racer was forced into isolation after she tested positive for Covid-19 upon arrival in the Chinese capital.

Mistakenly thinking she could return to the Olympic Village after three days of isolation and two consecutive negative tests, she was instead taken to a separate government facility. Fighting back tears, she said she may never get to enter the Olympic Village.

Hours after her cries for help Wednesday, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) intervened and secured her release.

“I am now in a wing that is just isolation, but at least I am back in the village,” Meylemans said on Instagram. “I feel safe and I’ll be able to train a little better here.”

Meylemans said she tested negative a dozen times prior to her departure and was miffed by her positive result.

Meylemans’ story is one of many highlighting the strict measures in China—one of the few places continuing to adhere to a zero-COVID policy.

Another measure is the “Closed Loop System”—a bubble housing all the games completely cut off from the rest of the city and its wider population.

Anyone inside testing positive will be immediately removed; symptomatic patients will be sent to a designated hospital, while asymptomatic people will be taken to isolation. Their bubble return won’t be allowed until all symptoms disappear and they consecutively test negative.

Some positive-testing athletes have given up any hope of competing.

Russian Olympic Committee’s biathlete Valeria Vasnetsova said her hopes were dashed after two positive tests on her Beijing arrival. American bobsledder Elana Meyers Taylor was also forced into isolation after testing positive for the virus two days after her arrival last week.

“This is just the latest obstacle that my family and I have faced on this journey, so I’m remaining optimistic that I’ll be able to recover quickly and still have the opportunity to compete,” the latter said.

Overall, there have been more than 280 COVID cases—102 of which coming from athletes and team officials—coming from inside the (alleged) closed loop.

On Tuesday, the State Department said the Biden Administration is consulting with allies about a joint approach to China, its human rights record, and how to handle the Bejing Winter Olympics.

At first, the department suggested an Olympic boycott protest was one way to go about it, but later a senior official said that it has not yet been discussed. Said official told ESPN that the United States’ position has not changed, but the administration has been consistently speaking with allies about common concerns about China. Department spokesperson Ned Price said the consultations were being held to present a united front.

Price also declined to comment on when a decision on the Olympics might be made but noted there is still almost a year until it is set to begin. The Bejing Winter Olympics opens on February 4, 2022, and China has denied all charges of human rights abuses. It says “political motives” underlie the boycott effort.

Rights groups have gathered at the International Olympic Committee and have been told the Olympic body must stay politically “neutral.” The IOC has told them that China has given “assurances” about human rights conditions. In the past, both the IOC and U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee have said they oppose boycotts.

IOC president Thomas Bach said in March that history shows boycotts never achieve anything. “It also has no logic,” he said. “Why would you punish the athletes from your own country if you have a dispute with a government from another country. This just makes no sense.”

The USOPC also commented, “We oppose Game boycotts because they have been shown to negatively impact athletes while not effectively addressing global issues.”

Since there is so much time until the 2022 Bejing Winter Olympics are set to commence, it will be interesting to see how things play out.