Mikaela Shiffrin continued on her quest to compete in every alpine skiing event in Beijing, finishing in 18th place in her Olympic downhill debut on Tuesday.
The American skier’s Winter Games has not gone exactly as planned, with Shiffrin recording two “Did Not Finish” results in the slalom and giant slalom, her best events, to open her Beijing campaign.
“I’m not focusing on the medal anymore. It’s just trying to do my best execution every day,” Shiffrin told reporters ahead of Tuesday’s race. “So I’m just trying to be present in the moment, especially with the downhill.”
The 26-year-old clocked a time of 1:34.36, 2.49 seconds behind gold-medalist Corinne Suter of Switzerland, while Italy’s Sofia Goggia and Nadia Delago took home silver and bronze in the blustery downhill competition.
“Once again today, it was super fun,” Shiffrin said to NBC after the race. “Of course my technical skiing feels pretty on point, and again, it’s another day of really good experience.”
Shiffrin will compete in two more events in Beijing, Thursday’s combined race and the mixed team competition on Saturday.