Mikaela Shiffrin to Compete in Her Last Individual Competition in Beijing

If there’s a medal ripe for receiving, this is it.

Mikaela Shiffrin He is one of 25 other skiers in the combined event area and one of a handful of skiers with the skills to compete for the podium in an event that includes both downhill and slalom runs.

On another crisp and clear day at Yanqing National Alpine Center, Shiffrin’s strategy is as always: survive with an adequate run downhill, then produce a world-class slalom to take the lead.

In 2018, Shiffrin was sixth after downhill, 1.21 seconds behind eventual winner Michelle Gisin of Switzerland. After a strong slalom show, Shiffrin took the silver and Swiss Wendy Holdener took the bronze.

Gisin and Holdener are competing today, but Shiffrin is currently the second best slalom racer in the world, behind only Slovakia’s Petra Vlhova. Vlhova, who won the gold medal in the slalom last week, chose not to compete in the combined.

There are only three skiers in the top 15 of the World Cup standings in field slalom: Austria’s Gisin, Holdener and Katharina Huber.

Shiffrin came to the Olympics preferred to win medals in multiple events. But he was disqualified giant slalom and slalom races last week. He placed ninth in the competition super-G and 18th place downhill.

Shiffrin’s stumbles in the opening races of the Beijing Olympics were unbelievable—he later called them failures—but he still has a long Olympic journey ahead as he enters his final individual race at this Winter Games.