Only head-to-head matchup with Vonn goes Shiffrin’s way
Mikaela Shiffrin already was assured of earning her third career medal when Lindsey Vonn propelled herself out of the starting gate as the final starter in the final race of her Olympic career.
The slalom portion of the two-leg Alpine combined would be the first — and only — time Vonn, 33, and U.S. teammate Shiffrin, 22, would compete against each other at any Olympics.
Could Vonn possibly summon a slalom performance from somewhere in her past to make her lead from the downhill portion stand up? Could Shiffrin hold on to her silver? The answer came quickly. Vonn’s slalom lasted all of about 10 seconds before she went off course, leaving Shiffrin in second place Thursday between two women from Switzerland: gold medalist Michelle Gisin and bronze medalist Wendy Holdener.
Shiffrin ranked sixth in the downhill, 1.21 seconds slower than Gisin, and was unable to make up that large a deficit in her forte, the slalom, which was a much shorter track. The downhill took about 100 seconds, the slalom about 40.
Shiffrin added the combined silver to her giant slalom gold.
“It’s really nice to be at the end of it and know that I do have two medals,” Shiffrin said.
With her slalom gold from the 2014 Games, Shiffrin joins Bode Miller and Julia Mancuso as the only Americans with a medal in each of at least three Alpine disciplines.
“It’s incredible what she’s been able to accomplish,” Vonn said.
Andre Myhrer of Sweden won the men’s slalom, taking advantage of favored Marcel Hirscher’s failure to finish the race.
Myhrer finished 0.34 seconds ahead of Switzerland’s Ramon Zenhaeusern. Bronze medalist Michael Matt of Austria was 0.67 behind Myhrer’s two-run time of 1 minute, 38.99 seconds. Matt’s brother Mario won gold four years ago.
Hirscher went out midway through the first run. He was seeking a third gold medal at these Olympics.
The U.S. will compete for gold in men’s curling after knocking out Canada 5-3 in the semifinals.
The U.S. will try for gold against Sweden, which beat Switzerland 9-3.
The Americans haven’t reached the podium since winning bronze in 2006. Canada had won the last three golds. Mikaela Shiffrin of the U.S. finds reason to smile after taking the silver medal Thursday in women’s Alpine combined.
Hungary won its first short-track speedskating medal ever with a gold in the men’s 5,000-meter relay. The U.S. team of J.R. Celski, John-Henry Krueger, Thomas Hong and Aaron Tran won the B final. ... Wu Dajing of China broke his own world record, winning the 500 meters in 39.584 seconds. ... Suzanne Schulting of the Netherlands won the women’s 1,000 meters.