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SPORTS Friday 16 February 2018
Delays done, Shiffrin wins Olympic GS gold; best event next

By HOWARD FENDRICH was third in a race originally
PYEONGCHANG, South scheduled for Sunday. Svin-
Korea (AP) — The nervous dal, 35, is the oldest man to
energy accumulated for win Olympic gold in Alpine
Mikaela Shiffrin while she skiing.
waited, waited, waited for At Yongpong, Shiffrin found
these Olympics — the ones some problems in the
that so many are expect- choppy terrain of the sec-
ing to be HER Olympics — ond half of the 51-gate GS
to finally get started. First course, in part because
one race was postponed. nearby trees created shad-
Then another. ows that made it tough to
And so it was not un- see. But she wasn’t the only
til a week into the Py- one: Her first run was sec-
eongchang Games that ond-fastest; her other was
Shiffrin and the other fe- fourth-fastest.
male Alpine skiers got to “She attacked both runs,
compete in the resched- and that’s how we do it. It
uled giant slalom, an event was the good way to do
the 22-year-old American things,” said France’s Tessa
considers a work in prog- Worley, the reigning world
ress for her. In second champion, who had a
place and still feeling some poor opening run and was
jitters after the first of Thurs- Mikaela Shiffrin, of the United States, celebrate her gold medal during the venue ceremony at the seventh. “She wanted this
day's two runs, Shiffrin did Women's Giant Slalom at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, Thursday, Feb. medal, and we could see
15, 2018.
two things during the 3½ Associated Press it.” q
hours before the deciding
leg of the GS: She took a for five years, including
nap, and then she sneaked a gold at the 2014 Sochi
onto the adjacent men's Games plus a trio of world
course at Yongpong Alpine titles. She is a huge favorite
Center for a little free skiing. in that one, unlike the gi-
"Then," said Shiffrin's mother, ant slalom, in which Shiffrin
Eileen, who is also a coach, was merely a strong con-
"I think she was just like, 'I'm tender. After that, Shiffrin
ready. I'm doing this.'" will skip Saturday's super-
Sure was. And sure did. G, according to her mom,
On a crisp, clear day with because there's no time to
very little sign of the gusts properly prepare. She still
that have played havoc intends to enter the down-
with the skiing program, hill and combined.
Shiffrin dealt well with her "I don't think it gets any eas-
pent-up emotions and put ier, but I think she can take
together a pair of aggres- a deep breath and say,
sive, if not quite perfect, 'The pressure's off a little bit.
trips through the gates to Maybe,'" said her father,
win the giant slalom for Jeff. "She'll just approach it
the second Olympic gold the way she's always ap-
medal of her precocious proached it: It's left-right-
career. left-right-left-right, forget
No American Alpine skier about the result."
has won more. In this instance, the result
"Definitely, it's been a men- was a two-run time of 2 min-
tal strain the last couple utes, 20.02 seconds, good
days, thinking we're going enough to beat surprise
to race and then not rac- silver medalist Ragnhild
ing. So to finally have the Mowinckel of Norway by
race actually happen to- 0.39 seconds and Fed-
day, I was like, 'Well, I really erica Brignone of Italy by
hope that I actually can 0.46. First-run leader Manu-
do it when the time comes ela Moelgg of Italy quickly
that we finally race.' And, gave away her 0.20-sec-
yeah, I did," said Shiffrin, ond advantage over Shif-
who is based in Colorado. frin and was eighth.
"So now we got the ball roll- Mowinckel helped make it
ing. I'm really excited for to- a three-medal Alpine day
morrow." for Norway: Aksel Lund Svin-
As well she should be. dal won the men's downhill
That's because Friday about 30 miles away at the
brings the slalom, by far Jeongseon Alpine Center,
Shiffrin's best event, one and Kjetil Jansrud got sil-
that she has dominated ver. Switzerland's Beat Feuz