Shiffrin slalom challenger Meillard out
PYEONGCHANG, South Korea — One of Mikaela Shiffrin’s expected main rivals in slalom is out of the Pyeongchang Olympics after crashing hard in training and tearing a ligament in her knee.
The Swiss ski team said 19-year-old Melanie Meillard ruptured the ACL in her left knee during a fall in giant slalom practice on Thursday.
The team said she will fly home Friday to prepare for surgery.
Meillard was expected to start in the Olympic giant slalom on Monday, then slalom on Wednesday, when American star Shiffrin defends her title.
She arrived at her first Olympics in sixth place in the World Cup slalom standings, which Shiffrin leads.
Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford made up for teammate Patrick Chan’s shaky short program to give Team Canada the lead after the opening day of figure skating’s team competition.
The U.S. team was second, fol- lowed closely by Japan and the Olympic Athletes of Russia.
Nathan Chen of the U.S., the 18year-old the favorite for men’s individual gold, was fourth in the men’s short program after doubling a triple toeloop and quad toeloop and falling on his troublesome triple axel.
The U.S. pairs team of Alexa Scimeca Knierim and Chris Knierim bailed Chen out with a dazzling perfor-
mance set to music from “Moulin Rouge!”
In the men’s short program, Shoma Uno was nearly flawless, the only stumble coming on his opening jump to give Japan the early lead. Andreas Wellinger will take his strong form into the final of the men’s normal hill ski jump. The 22-year-old German, who already qualified because he was among the top 10-ranked jumpers going into the event, beat defending Olympic champion Kamil Stoch of Poland, who finished second in Thursday’s qualifying. The normal hill final is on Saturday.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled that 45 Russian athletes and two coaches who were excluded from the Pyeongchang Olympics over doping concerns can’t compete. The games will still include 168 Russians who have been invited as “Olympic Athletes from Russia.”
Larry Probst, the chairman of the U.S. Olympic Committee says there will be no American bid for the 2026 Winter Games, but the USOC will keep its options open for 2030. Salt Lake City said it would try to become the American candidate for 2030 and Denver is considering a bid.