Mikaela Shiffrin will compete in the super-G event at the Beijing Olympics, the U.S. ski team confirmed on Thursday.
There had been some questions about her status for the rest of the Games after she skied out of her two best events, the slalom and giant slalom. But U.S. head women’s Alpine coach Paul Kristofic said that her practice on Thursday “went well.”
“It’s hard to accept what happened, but she has to work through it,” he said. “And one of the better ways to do that is to keep looking forward. She has multiple events here, which is great for her.
“You have to look at what’s in front of you and try to put what’s behind you to rest, as difficult as that is.”
The 26-year-old has never competed in a super-G at the Olympics. But she has competed in it elsewhere internationally, taking home gold in the event at the 2019 world championships.
Her boyfriend, Norwegian skier Aleksander Aamodt Kilde, who took home silver in the Alpine combined Thursday, said that she is “in a good state; she’s all right.”
“She’s a hero and she can handle this. She handles pressure like no one else, and this is something she will come out of,” he said. “But it’s been a couple of tough days.”
Also on Thursday, a spokeswoman for the U.S. ski team said that both Shiffrin and her mother, Eileen, who is her coach, will not “be doing any media for the foreseeable future.”