BEIJING — Mikaela Shiffrin skied out in the Alpine combined and once again was unable to finish a race at the Beijing Olympics.
She will leave the 2022 Games without an individual medal after participating in all five women's events. The 26-year-old American did not even manage to complete three of her five races.
Shiffrin was fifth-fastest in the downhill portion of the two-run combined on Thursday morning but was fell early in the slalom leg in the afternoon and didn't make it to the bottom of the course.
She sat for a few seconds, then rose and shook her head.
A three-time Olympic medalist, Shiffrin is one of Team U.S.A.'s most recognizable athletes. While expectations were high for her performance at the Beijing Games, she's been very open about the toll stress has taken on her mental health.
In an interview with The Associated Press this month, she spoke about the pressures facing Olympics athletes and concerns raised by gymnast Simone Biles and swimmer Caleb Dressel during the Tokyo Games last summer.
"But it's not like rainbows and sunshine and butterflies and everything that people sort of say," Shiffrin told the AP. "They're like, 'Wow, that looks like it was so much fun!' And you're like, 'Well, it was fun to cross through the finish line and, in the next five seconds, see the green light (signaling the fastest time) and comprehend that. That was a fun thing.' And the rest of the day — the whole rest of the day — was really, really pretty stressful and uncomfortable."
