Mikaela Shiffrin came to the 2022 Beijing Olympics with her sights set on potentially winning six medals. But entering Sunday’s mixed Alpine team competition, the two-time gold medalist had been completely shut out.
(Looking for a recap of Saturday’s action? We have you covered.)
Shiffrin and Team USA came agonizingly close to the podium in their final appearance in Beijing before losing in the semifinals to Germany and in the bronze medal matchup to Norway.
The Alpine mixed team event was moved back a day by high winds, and the members of Team USA — Shiffrin, A.J. Hurt, Paula Moltzan, River Radamus, Tommy Ford and Luke Winters — changed their flights home to take part. The U.S. defeated Slovakia in the opening round and Italy in the quarterfinals, but came away from the event empty-handed.
Later Sunday, Russia will look to repeat as gold medalists in men’s hockey while Finland is seeking its first Olympic championship.
Finally, the 2022 Beijing Olympics will wrap up with the closing ceremony at 7 a.m. ET Sunday (rebroadcast Sunday night on NBC).
TV SCHEDULE: What and how to watch Saturday night and early Sunday in Beijing
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USA MEDAL COUNT: Full list of every medal won by Team USA at Beijing Games
WHO LEADS THE MEDAL COUNT? How each country performed at the Winter Games
Mikaela Shiffrin leaves Beijing without a medal
BEIJING — Mikaela Shiffrin will leave the Beijing Olympics empty-handed.
Shiffrin and the Americans lost to Norway in the bronze-medal race of the Alpine team event Sunday. Each country won two races in the final, but Norway won based on the better overall time.
It was yet another unfulfilling ending for the two-time Olympic champion, who had wanted to do the team event so badly she changed her departure from Beijing after high winds pushed the race back a day.
Shiffrin has three medals from her first two Olympic appearances, two golds and a silver, and was expected to contend for several more here. But she only finished two of her individual events, recording Did Not Finishes in the giant slalom, slalom and Alpine combined, her best events.
She finished ninth in the super-G and was 18th in the downhill.
— Nancy Armour
Along with bitter cold temperatures, high winds delay Alpine skiing finale
ZHANGJIAKOU, China – It was so windy, and cold, and hard to see, it was dangerous for action sports stars.
The weather in the mountain zones of the Beijing Winter Olympics had teeth Saturday.
For perspective, the Hebei Zhangjiakou Shangyi Wind Farm is up here at the same venue as the freestyle skiing sports, and according to China Daily, it is the richest solar and wind energy resource in north China.
On Saturday, maybe that number was more impressive.
It varied, but competition temperatures hovered around minus-9 Fahrenheit, but with the wind it felt like minus-25. Wind gusts varied from 17-30 mph, according to the weather app from Chongli.
At Yanqing, the start of the Alpine mixed team event was delayed twice in hopes the winds would die down. Organizers later announced they would try again Sunday morning, despite the forecast calling for more high winds.
— Lori Nickel
Elana Meyers Taylor ‘felt like I was going to cry’ after clinching bronze
BEIJING – Moments before the final run Saturday night, another Olympic medal well within her grasp, Elana Meyers Taylor took a moment to process that it might well be her last time in a bobsled.
“I felt like I was going to cry actually,” she said. “If this is the end, I really just want to enjoy it. If it is the last time I’m in the sled, and if it is my last Olympics run, I wanted to go out the way I wanted to.”
When Meyers Taylor and brakeman Sylvia Hoffman reached the bottom of the track at Yanqing Sliding Center, having put down a flawless run that guaranteed a medal, her reaction said it all. Meyers Taylor threw her fist in the air and hopped out of the sled, gave Hoffman a huge hug and celebrated in front of her supporters with Team USA.
If this was the 37-year old’s final Olympics, it was one she couldn’t have been prouder of.
“It’s been a really long Olympics, a really long season, a long four years,” she said. “Part of it was just relief to come down and cross the line and have another medal. It was also just being excited. We put in a lot of work for this.”
— Dan Wolken
US figure skating team’s bid for medal ceremony rejected
BEIJING — The nine U.S. figure skaters who won silver medals in the team event at the 2022 Winter Olympics felt so strongly about receiving those medals before the end of the Games that they took the matter to court.
But they did not succeed.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport announced late Saturday night that it rejected the appeal the Americans filed earlier in the day, which would have forced the International Olympic Committee to hold a public medal ceremony for the team event before Sunday night’s closing ceremony.
CAS said in a news release that the hearing took place from 7 to 9:30 p.m. in Beijing, by video conference. It announced the decision of its panel of arbitrators but little else. A full report on the decision is expected within the coming week.
— Tom Schad
USA up to 24 medals as competition enters its final day
Thanks to a silver and bronze from freeskiers David Wise and Alex Ferriera, along with a silver from bobsledders Elana Meyers Taylor and Sylvia Hoffman, the United States boosted its medal total in Beijing to 24 with one day of competition remaining.
Team USA is tied with Germany for fourth in the overall medal count, behind Canada (25), the Russian Olympic Committee (31) and Norway (35).
The Norwegians also lead in gold medals with 15. Germany is second with 11, China is third with nine and the USA is tied for fourth with eight golds.