The first days of the Beijing Olympics look like a nightmare for American skier Mikaela Shiffrin. In return, the Slovak Petra Vlhova lives moments of pure happiness, as she had little savored in recent years.
Two days after failing to do so in the giant slalom, where she straddled a gate at the top of the course for the initial run, Shiffrin experienced the same misadventure on Wednesday, during her first outing on the track in the slalom.
His exclusion from the second round opened the door for Vlhova, who gave her country the first Olympic medal in its history, and the most sought after of all.
Vlhova clocked a cumulative time of one minute 44.98 seconds, and she won the gold, eight hundredths of a second ahead of Austria’s Katharina Liensberger.
The Swiss Wendy Holdener, silver medalist four years ago in Pyeongchang, this time won the bronze, 12 hundredths from the winner.
Medal around her neck, Vlhova explained her successes by a more relaxed approach, under the guidance of Mauro Pini, her new instructor.
“Mauro brought me something huge, because he makes me smile,” said Vlhova, adding that when she was exhausted in past seasons, she no longer had fun skiing.
“Now every day, even when I’m tired, I’m happy to be back on the snow. Laugh often with the team. […] Smile, enjoy sport. […] Just having fun and skiing. In recent years, it has been missing. »
For her part, it was with tears in her eyes that Shiffrin spoke to reporters.
“I’ve never been in this position before and I don’t know how to react,” admitted Shiffrin, Olympic champion in slalom in 2014 in Sochi and in giant slalom in 2018 in Pyeongchang.
“I pushed and maybe it went beyond my limits. The giant slalom and the slalom are the events where I invested the most effort. It really gives the impression of having worked a lot for nothing, ”she added.
Sixteen years later, finally!
While Shiffrin searched for answers, her compatriot Lindsey Jacobellis finally fulfilled an old goal by winning gold in the snowboard cross final.
At the age of 36 and in his fifth Olympic Games, Jacobellis provided his country with a first triumph in Beijing. She also became the oldest American to win a gold medal.
It’s a dream she hasn’t stopped chasing ever since she had to settle for silver in heartbreaking circumstances at the first Games of her career.
Until Wednesday, Jacobellis was best known for taking a huge lead heading into the final jump at the 2006 Turin Games, but she crashed out wanting to celebrate her victory too hastily to end up settling for the silver medal.
“(People) can talk about it all they want because it helped me become the person I am today. It kept me hungry and it kept me going to keep fighting in this sport. »
In the freestyle ski jump event, Norwegian Birk Ruud was sure to leave the event with the gold medal around his neck even before setting off for his third jump.
He had scored 95.75 and 92.00 on his first two tries, giving him a total of 187.75 points.
After his triumph, he took his lap of honor carrying the Norwegian flag on his third jump. Ruud also showed off a gold watch around his wrist, a gift from his father, who died of cancer last year.
“Dad, you’re with me,” he said, tapping his heart.
In two-seater luge, the Germans Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt won their third Olympic gold medal in a row. They edged their compatriots Toni Eggert and Sascha Benecken by 99 thousandths of a second.
Since the start of the Beijing Games, Germany has won three gold medals in as many luge outings.
In men’s hockey, in Group B matches, the Russian Olympic Committee shut out Switzerland 1-0 and Denmark beat the Czech Republic 2-1.
On a completely different note, the medal ceremony for the figure skating team competition has been postponed due to “legal troubles” that could change the podium, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has said.
The medal ceremony scheduled for Tuesday was to confirm the crowning of the Russian Olympic Committee team. The Americans and the Japanese were to receive their silver and bronze medals respectively.
Mark Adams, spokesperson for the IOC, mentioned that a “legal consultation” was in progress. Details of the investigation were not released.
If an athlete from one of the teams were disqualified, an appeal would surely follow to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Canada took fourth place in the event and could therefore climb to the podium.