Mikaela Shiffrin 'laying everything on the line' while Ester Ledecka eyes historic double-double at Winter Olympics

BySam Webb

Updated 17/02/2022 at 09:16 GMT

Mikaela Shiffrin is “putting her nightmares behind her” in Beijing as she goes into the second phase of the women’s Alpine combined in fifth place following an impressive, “aggressive” downhill run. After a disastrous start to her Games, is this to be the moment she turns things around? Meanwhile, Ester Ledecka is aiming for an historic skiing-snowboard Olympic double-double.

Mikaela Shiffrin has gone into fifth place with her Alpine combined downhill run with a “spectacular ski” in her attempt to salvage something from her turbulent 2022 Games.

Meanwhile, Ester Ledecka is just 0.01 seconds off the leading pace of Austria’s Christine Scheyer as she looks for an unprecedented skiing-snowboard Olympic double-double.

The second half of the event – the slalom run – begins at 06:00 GMT.

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Three-time Olympic medallist Shiffrin, who so far has two DNFs and one ninth-place finish to her name in Beijing, delivered one of the most “aggressive” runs of her career and trails Scheyer by 0.56 seconds.

She bore a look of determination as she sized up the slope at the top of the course before her downhill run and she delivered an explosive start.

“You can see how much she wants this,” said four-time GB Olympian and Eurosport commentator Emma Carrick-Anderson.

She is laying everything on the line here in her quest to take the gold.

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Lead commentator Nick Fellows was taken aback by Shiffrin’s uncharacteristic aggression and felt she may have pushed too hard.

“She is slightly over-aggressive, she needs to relax a little bit and let the skis do some of the work,” he said.

“We know she’s done it all, but it’s gone wrong at these Games so far. She’s the world champion in this discipline and she means business here.”

The American initially crossed the finish line in second place, before she was pushed down to fifth.

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“Is that enough for Ledecka going onto the slalom leg or has Shiffrin got it under control?

“Shiffrin is the big pre-race favourite, lies third and still looking good to take the gold. I’ve never seen her race downhill so aggressively.

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“She was just missing a little bit of the balance from yesterday’s training session.”

Fellows added that the 26-year-old appeared to have moved on mentally from her disastrous first two events in Beijing.

“I think she’s learned to deal with those situations, to put those nightmares behind her and look forwards, not backwards.”

Ledecka of the Czech Republic, who won the super G in Pyeongchang, delivered a superb run despite a shaky start.

“She’s got to nail this downhill but already she looks a little nervous on this top section,” said Fellows.

“But look how she draws on her skiing skills here to make up over a second! Big speed, big jump and she’s back in front.

“Is that good enough to turn up the heat, the pressure, on Shiffrin and Gisin?”

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Watch every moment of Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 on discovery+

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