KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia - She was slow-twisting down the women’s slalom course with a big lead Friday when suddenly, as if struck by some unseen reflex mallet, Mikaela Shiffrin’s left leg shot skyward.
INTERACTIVE
“I thought it was over,” U.S. women’s slalom coach Roland Pfeifer said.
The American teenager, who said she’d envisioned such a spill before arriving here to best-prepare for that possibility, somehow not only regained her balance but her pace and the rhythm crucial for maneuvering swiftly through the series of gates.
“That was scary,” she said. “I thought I was going off the course.”
Seconds later, crouched low over her skis, Shiffrin sailed over the finish line to become, at 18, the youngest slalom winner in Olympic history.
Ironically, her hair-raising victory came at the expense of her skiing idol. Austria’s Marlies Schild, whose 35 World Cup slalom victories are the most in history, held the two run lead until Shiffrin’s second trip down the Rosa Khutor Alpine Center course.
Schild, 32, took the silver medal and her teammate, Kathrin Zettel, the bronze in the final women’s Alpine event of these Olympics.
“I didn’t lose the gold medal,” Schild said. “I won silver in the second run. My dream died in the first run down.”
With her victory, Shiffrin put herself in position to come to the 2018 Games in South Korea as one of the American ski team’s best-known names.
The Coloradan, who became the youngest skier to win a world championship in 2013 and led the World Cup standings in the event this season, lost time in the near fall. But the 0.49-second lead she had on the field after the morning run gave her plenty of cushion.
Her combined time of 1:44.54 was 0.53 ahead of Schild’s, 0.81 in front of Zettel.
“That [the near-fall] was a pretty crazy moment there,” Shiffrin said. “I was like, ‘I’m not going to make it. I’m not going to make it.’ I threw on a hockey stop right there. That was a little bit tough. It scared me half to death.”
Shiffrin became the first U.S. gold medal-winner in the slalom since Barbara Cochran in 1972.
WOMEN’S BIATHLON
Ukraine gets 1st gold
The women’s biathlon team from Ukraine gave its country, marred by deadly riots, a victory it had been longing for.
The team won the 4x6-kilometer relay for its first gold medal of the Sochi Games.
The team of twins Vita and Valj Semerenko, Julia Dzhyma and anchor Olena Pidhrushna missed five targets but avoided penalty loops to finish in 1 hour, 10 minutes, 2.5 seconds.
Defending champion Russia was 26.4 seconds behind to take silver, and Norway trailed by 37.6 to win bronze.
SHORT TRACK SPEEDSKATING
Americans take silver
U.S. long-track speedskaters began the Olympics with expectations of several podium trips. But it’s the short trackers who are going home with the hardware.
The men’s 5,000-meter relay team took silver, giving its beleaguered national program its only medal.
Russia won the gold, pulling ahead with about six laps to go. The race was essentially between the U.S. and Russia after China, the Netherlands and Kazakhstan fell behind in the first lap when skaters fell. China took bronze.
FREESTYLE SKIING Teammates share podium
Marielle Thompson heard a voice, someone calling “inside,” up high on the course in the women’s ski-cross final.
It was her Canadian teammate, Kelsey Serwa.
Thompson gave Serwa a little space on the first turn. The four-woman final featured the two Canadians, Anna Holmlund of Sweden and France’s Ophelie David.
“We definitely try to help each other,” Thompson said. “I’m not going to cut her off. That’s just how we went the whole way down.”
MEN’S CURLING
Canada tops Britain
There was a certain paradox to the Canadian men’s curling team’s victory in the final against Britain.
After all, curling was born in Scotland and was exported to Canada. Yet it was the North American team, led by skipper Brad Jacobs, that seized Canada’s third consecutive gold medal in the sport Friday, 9-3.
Canada’s women’s curling team won its gold medal Thursday over Sweden. It was the first time a country has swept the curling titles.
TODAY’S TV
All times Central (Subject to change)
NBC 1:30 p.m.-5 p.m. Women’s snowboarding - parallel slalom gold medal final; women’s cross-country - 30km freestyle gold medal final; men’s biathlon - 4x7.5km relay gold medal final; men’s snowboarding - parallel slalom competition 7 p.m.-10:07 p.m. Men’s alpine skiing - slalom gold medal final; four-man bobsled - competition; figure skating - gala exhibition; men’s snowboarding - parallel slalom gold medal final; men’s and women’s speedskating - team pursuit gold medal final 11 p.m.-midnight Figure skating - gala exhibition Midnight-3 a.m. Primetime encore
NBCSN 9 a.m.-11:30 a.m. Men’s hockey - bronze medal game, United States vs. Finland (live) 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Figure skating - gala exhibition 5 p.m.-7 p.m. Game of the day: Hockey
Sports, Pages 23 on 02/22/2014