Mikaela Shiffrin on Olympic Loss: “There Was So Much Positive That’s Happened”

US skier Mikaela Shiffrin failed to finish the slalom leg of the Alpine combined race at the 2022 Olympics, her last individual event. She entered her signature event in fifth place after an impressive downhill run, hoping to get a medal. Unfortunately, her ski caught near the tenth gate of her run and she fell, ruining her chances of reaching the podium.

This was her third fall in Beijing and another heartbreaking loss as Shiffrin had previously skied out of the women’s giant slalom competition, was disqualified from the slalom, and didn’t medal during the super-G. But Shiffrin remained positive about what she called “failures.”

Shiffrin was using Italy’s 2022 downhill silver medalist Sofia Goggia’s skis to compete on, and Goggia left an encouraging note for Shiffrin: “Fly Mika, you can.” Shiffrin explained that Goggia wasn’t using them since she wasn’t competing. She said, “She actually wrote a small message on them, on a sticky note, and I saw it in the start and I almost started crying.” She said she tried to fly as best as you could.

“I had some of the best skiing I’ve ever done here in Beijing, in the training, in the downhill over the last week, in my slalom, even today,” Shiffrin said. “And on the race, in the moment when it counts, then I didn’t make it to the finish, and that’s never happened in my entire career. So I don’t understand it, but there was so much positive that’s happened the last couple weeks, despite how much it really stinks.” She added, “Sometimes you just have to take it, I guess.”