US ski star Mikaela Shiffrin on Tuesday suffered more Winter Olympic heartbreak, while Ukrainian athlete Vladyslav Heraskevych vowed to continue wearing a banned helmet depicting victims of the war with Russia.
On the ice in Milan, US figure skating sensation Ilia Malinin further burnished his growing reputation as he closed in on a second gold medal in his debut Games.
The US’ top team of Shiffrin and individual downhill champion Breezy Johnson were firm favorites to win the women’s team combined event in Cortina d’Ampezzo after Johnson topped the times in the morning’s downhill run, but Shiffrin stuttered through the slalom — her specialist event — and the US pair finished in a disappointing fourth place, with Austrians Ariane Raedler and Katharina Huber claiming gold.
Photo: Reuters
Defeat will sting for 30-year-old Shiffrin, who is the most successful World Cup skier of all time and came into the Games in red-hot form.
The two-time Olympic gold medalist had a point to prove after a disastrous showing at the 2022 Beijing Games, where she failed to win a single medal, but Shiffrin was a full second slower than Emma Aicher, whose session-leading time of 44.38 seconds gave Germany silver, while another US pairing, Jacqueline Wiles and Paula Moltzan, took bronze.
The American said she would learn from her disappointing run, which cranks up the pressure ahead of next week’s slalom, the final alpine skiing event of the Games.
Photo: Reuters
“I didn’t quite find a comfort level that like allows me to produce full speed, so I’m going to have to learn what to do, what to adjust in the short time we have before the other tech races,” she said.
Shiffrin’s poor performance denied Johnson a second gold of the Games after she triumphed in the downhill on Sunday, when Lindsey Vonn suffered a broken leg in a brutal crash.
Vonn, 41, who had been expected to share star billing with Shiffrin at the Milano Cortina Games, revealed on Monday she had suffered a “complex tibia fracture” when she crashed in the downhill and would need “multiple surgeries to fix [it] properly.”
Photo: Reuters
Away from the ski slopes, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) banned Ukrainian skeleton racer Heraskevych from wearing a helmet that features pictures of sportspeople killed since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, but has allowed him to wear a black armband instead.
IOC spokesperson Mark Adams said the helmet contravened guidelines, but that the IOC would “make an exception to the guidelines to allow him to wear a black armband during competition to make that commemoration.”
Gestures of a political nature during competition are forbidden under the Olympic charter, though athletes are permitted to express their views in news conferences and on social media.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy had defended Heraskevych’s right to wear the helmet, thanking him “for reminding the world of the price of our struggle.”
The athlete, who was one of Ukraine’s two flag-bearers in the opening ceremony in Italy, told reporters at the Cortina Sliding Centre that he had no intention of backing down.
“I used it in all trainings... I used it today, I will use it tomorrow, and I will use it on race day [today],” he told reporters.
Heraskevych said he disagreed with the IOC’s decision “because I truly believe that we didn’t violate any rules.”
In a strongly worded Instagram post he said: “Even though the IOC wants to betray the memory of these athletes, I will not betray them.”
Ukrainian Minister of Youth and Sports Matviy Bidnyi earlier this month said that Russia has killed “more than 650 athletes and coaches” since it invaded Ukraine.
In late-evening action, figure skater Malinin, unbeaten in individual competition for two years, performed his trademark backflip to top the standings in the short program of the singles competition, delighting the crowd.
The 21-year-old, with the team title already under his belt, is well placed to win gold after tomorrow’s free skating section.
Earlier, Norwegian cross-country skier Johannes Klaebo added a seventh Olympic gold to his career haul as Norway stayed top of the medals table with six golds.
In the Olympic women’s ice hockey preliminary round, the US hammered reigning champions Canada 5-0.
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