ROSA KHUTOR, Russia (Feb. 18) – Mikaela Shiffrin (Eagle-Vail, CO) skied to fifth Tuesday during her first-ever Olympic appearance at the women’s giant slalom of the 2014 Sochi Olympic Winter Games. Heavy rain pelted the 18-year-old World Champion during her second run, but she reigned in a world-class performance to land in the top five behind gold winner Tina Maze of Slovenia. The race will be featured on NBC’s Primetime Olympic coverage Tuesday at 8:00 p.m. EST and can be streamed in its entirety at NBCOlympics.com. The men are set to ski giant slalom on Wednesday Feb. 19, when four-time World Cup champion Ted Ligety (Park City, UT) will look to win his first Olympic medal for giant slalom.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Mikaela Shiffrin (Eagle-Vail, CO) skied to fifth Tuesday during her first-ever Olympic appearance at the women’s giant slalom of the 2014 Sochi Olympic Winter Games at the Rosa Khutor Alpine Center.
- Heavy rain pelted the 18-year-old World Champion during her second run, but she reigned in a world-class performance to land in the top five despite gunning for the podium. Tuesday’s result gives her great motivation for her next medal event, the women’s slalom on Friday Feb. 21.
- Super combined bronze medalist Julia Mancuso (Squaw Valley, CA) did not finish her first run. It was her final race of the 2014 Olympics.
- Resi Stiegler (Jackson Hole, WY) finished 29th and Megan McJames (Park City, UT) 30th. Shiffrin, Stiegler, McJames and Julia Ford (Holderness, NH) will start in Friday’s slalom race.
- Tina Maze of Slovenia mastered the course to win gold while Austria’s Anna Fenninger took silver with Viktoria Rebensburg of Germany bronze.
- A mix of snow up top, fog mid-course and rain in the bottom provided added challenges during both runs. The snow surface held up despite the precipitation and provided a great competition for the world’s top giant slalom athletes.
- The race will be featured on NBC’s Primetime Olympic coverage Tuesday at 8:00 p.m. EST and can be streamed in its entirety at NBCOlympics.com.
- The men are set to ski giant slalom on Wednesday Feb. 19, when four-time World Cup champion Ted Ligety (Park City, UT) will look to win his first Olympic medal for giant slalom. Bode Miller (Franconia, NH) will be skiing for his second giant slalom medal, while Tim Jitloff (Reno, NV) will race in his first Olympic event with Jared Goldberg (Holladay, UT).
QUOTES
Mikaela Shiffrin
I wanted a gold, but I think this was meant to happen. It's something that I'll learn from. Next Olympics I go to, I'm sure as heck not getting fifth.
I was really thinking that my first GS win would be at the Olympics, and that would be such a cool thing to accomplish. It's just something that I accept. I got fifth today, and there were four girls who skied better than I did.
It wasn't necessarily the worst-case scenario. The visibility was better than I thought it was going to be, and the conditions were really good for how much it's precipitating. I think it was a pretty fair race, and I'm just really in awe of the top three girls. And also the fourth girl, she was ahead of me, too.
Julia Mancuso
Being here and kind of coming back from not a good race season kind of put in perspective for me what skiing's about. Coming into these Olympics, I really wanted a medal, and I got bronze.
I for sure still want gold. If I can continue skiing well, especially on the speed side, and get to a place where I can still be fighting for gold medals . . . At the beginning of the season, I felt there was no way I'd come back. But after coming here and kind of having that magical day, it makes me want to keep going.
Megan McJames
It was a tough day, but I felt like I really stepped it up second run. On a day like today the run is not going to be pretty. It’s just who can throw it down the hill the best. I think everyone is pretty soaked through. In the top it’s snowing and in the bottom it’s raining so that makes it different snow conditions the whole way down. Today my plan was to just go for it. Technique and tactics kind of go out the window and you just try to go for it and be fearless as much as possible.
Resi Stiegler
It’s really cool. I haven’t had the greatest season so far with results and I’m really happy to be here. I want to be doing better, but I’m very happy to be here and competing. And hopefully Friday will be a lot better.
It was on par for the year with rain, but it was very difficult and it’s quite impressive what the girls did today. The course was actually in great condition. The way that they prepared it was unbelievable with the amount of rain and craziness that we have going on. So they did a great job preparing. I think it’s just a difficult day and you’ve got to be the strongest mentally on days like today.
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