Mikaela Shiffrin to skip downhill, focus on Alpine combined at 2018 Winter Olympics

PYEONGCHANG, South Korea — The wind is messing with Mikaela Shiffrin’s Olympics.

Shiffrin will skip Wednesday’s downhill after the Alpine combined was moved to Thursday. Strong winds are expected Friday, when the combined was originally scheduled to be run.

“As much as I wanted to compete in the Olympic downhill, with the schedule change it’s important for me to focus my energy on preparing for the combined,” Shiffrin said in a statement released by the U.S. Olympic Committee.
“I’m looking forward to cheering on our girls racing in the downhill and to compete myself in Thursday’s combined.”

Shiffrin came to Pyeongchang hoping to do all five events, with the chance to medal in all of them. But the wind soon blew those plans away, forcing both the giant slalom and slalom to be postponed last week. Shiffrin won gold in the giant slalom Thursday, but said after finishing fourth in the slalom that she would skip Saturday’s Super-G.
The rearranged schedule left no time for Shiffrin to train the Super-G, a speed event. She also hedged on doing the downhill, saying she wanted to see how training went.

Shiffrin, a medal favorite in the combined, was the fourth-fastest American both Sunday and Monday, and her mother and coach Eileen did not sound enthusiastic about her prospects.

Source :- usatoday