It has been a turbulent Winter Olympics for Mikaela Shiffrin, who will leave Beijing without an individual medal.
Thursday saw her register a did-not-finish (DNF) in the combined slalom, her third of the Games.
It comes after failing to finish in the slalom and giant slalom which she had previously won consecutively gold medals in.
“Right now, I just feel like a joke,” said Shiffrin after ending her individual Games in disappointment.
“The most disappoint thing, beyond walking away from the Games with no individual medals is that I had multiple opportunities to ski slalom on this track, and I failed in al of them.”
She adds: “That’s disappointing for me, it’s disappointing for my whole team, for the coaches, for everybody who’s been working so hard.”
And while she wasn’t able to replicate her individual form in Beijing, Shiffrin still has a chance to leave with at least a team medal in the mixed event.
But although she’s received significant support in her bid for the podium, Mikaela has been equally met by critics.
“There’s going to be a whole chaotic mess of crap that people are saying about how I just fantastically failed these last couple of weeks in the moments that actually counted,” Shiffrin said.
“It’s really strange, but I’m not even afraid of that right now, and maybe it’s because I don’t have any emotional energy to give any more.”
The mixed team event will take place on February 19.
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