Mikaela Shiffrin's schedule coming into the Winter Olympics was utterly packed. She had aspirations for five medals in various skiing disciplines. However, a tight schedule and bad weather have scuttled those plans.
The rescheduling has made a difficult situation for Shiffrin nearly impossible. Shiffrin came in fourth in a stunner in slalom, and she pulled out of the super-G, which was to be a day later. She also won gold in the giant slalom last week. Now, Shiffrin is pulling out of Tuesday's downhill race, just a day after she said that she wanted to race after struggling in training.
"I want to, for sure," she said of racing after placing 16th in training, via NBC. "But I don't know. ... I definitely want to pick up my speed in sections, so that's my biggest goal tomorrow and then we'll see."
Rather than striving for five gold medals, Shiffrin will likely be going for two. Although she could go for a third by competing in the team event on Friday, that's apparently unlikely. The combined will be Shiffrin's next race on Thursday, which is a day up from its originally scheduled slot and the reason for Shiffrin pulling out of the downhill.
It has been an utter mess trying to combat the weather throughout these Games. From forcing athletes to snowboard in legitimately dangerous conditions to Olympians having their schedules ravaged by the moving parts, weather has wreaked havoc on Pyeongchang's hosting experience. Of course, it's an impossible thing to prevent. Nature is nature. But for someone like Shiffrin to have to pull out of multiple events is notable.
Lindsey Vonn will still be racing the downhill for Team USA, as she goes for gold in a bit of a redemption tour. Vonn missed Sochi's 2014 Games, and she's looking to leave her mark this year. Shiffrin would have been a major competitor for her, but they'll surely be rooting for each other as these Games go on.
