Mikaela Shiffrin Eliminated from Slalom After Missing Gate; 2nd DQ of 2022 Olympics

It has been a shocking 2022 Beijing Olympics for Mikaela Shiffrin.

Shiffrin missed a gate and skied out in the opening seconds of Tuesday's women's slalom competition in her second event of the Games. She did the same in the first run of Sunday's giant slalom and never had the opportunity to race for gold.

Nick Zaccardi of NBC Sports noted the American star did not finish in back-to-back races at the senior level for the first time since she was 16 years old in 2011.

To say Shiffrin was despondent would be quite the understatement.

After all, she sat on the snow on the side of the course in complete disbelief well after she missed the gate and even after more of the competitors took to the course. It was an emotional scene that overshadowed the actual race as some of the other skiers who didn't seem to have a realistic chance to win gold suddenly had an Olympic opportunity with the favorite sidelined.

That she missed a chance to bounce back from Sunday's disappointment made it all the more poignant.

"I won't ever get over this,” Shiffrin told reporters after Sunday's giant slalom. "I've never gotten over any. I still remember how much it hurt to lose it four years ago in Kronplatz. I fell before the last Olympics and I remember thinking that was so heartbreaking. It wasn't even at the Olympics."

If there is any silver lining, it is the fact that she will still have opportunities to win medals at these Games if she participates in the women's super-G, women's downhill and women's combined events.

Still, Shiffrin missed two golden opportunities to add to a resume that includes three Olympic medals, 11 world championship medals, three World Cup titles and 73 race victories. The Associated Press noted she could have become the first American alpine skier to win three Olympics golds if she won either of the races.

Perhaps she will still make history in the later competitions, but her Games are not off to a promising start.