Glamour couple Shiffrin-Kilde must regroup

Alpine skiing’s glamour couple Mikaela Shiffrin and Aleksander Aamodt Kilde have had a sharp reminder that stardom guarantees an athlete nothing in Olympic competition.

American Shiffrin first crashed out on Monday in the giant slalom after winning the event at the 2018 Games.

Then her Norwegian partner Kilde had to settle for fifth in the downhill, after starting as top favourite.

“I talked to her, and she was taking it really well, she knows that she skied well until then,” Kilde said.

“Of course it’s a pity to ski out early in the race, but that’s also part of the game.

“She tried and she went out for it 100 per cent. It’s better to do that and go out instead of coming to the finish and being halfway disappointed.”

Neither hid their disappointment about their own races, but they can make amends right away.

Kilde is a favourite again in Tuesday’s super-g, and Shiffrin in the slalom on Wednesday.

Shiffrin won the event in 2014 and also has four world titles, as well as a whopping 47 World Cup slalom wins.

“I had high expectations for sure. It’s been a great season and in the Olympics, when you stand there as a favourite, you want to deliver,” Kilde said after his race.

“The Olympics are not over yet so I just have to keep on going,” he added. “I’m just going to do good skiing and see how it goes.”

Romance blossomed at a difficult time for them as Kilde was working back from a anterior cruciate ligament tear he sustained in his right knee 13 months ago, while Shiffrin was processing the sudden death of her father in 2020.

The pair are in the same Olympic village at Yanqing, where the alpine skiing events are held, but strict coronavirus rules have prevented a lot of mingling.

Kilde made “some mistakes” when it mattered on Monday as the gold went to Beat Feuz.

The Swiss veteran has been among the world’s elite in the event for many years and was no surprise winner.

The women’s race also showed that victory for Shiffrin was no foregone conclusion, thanks to a strong field, as Sara Hector of Sweden took gold.

Shiffrin admitted to “huge disappointment” because “It doesn’t happen too often that I am falling”.

But just like Kilde, she looked ahead.

“I am not going to cry about this because that is just wasting energy. My best chance for the next races is to move forward, to re-focus – and I feel like I am in a good place to do that,” she said.

Glamour couple Shiffrin-Kilde must regroup
Independent Information