Bormio (Italy) (AFP) – US star Mikaela Shiffrin fittingly brought the curtain down on the alpine skiing programme at the Winter Olympics with a long-awaited gold in the women’s slalom in Cortina d’Ampezzo on Wednesday. AFP Sport looks at six highs and lows from two weeks of action in Cortina and Bormio, which hosted the men’s events:
– **Franjo von Allmen (SUI)** – Von Allmen headed up a Swiss men’s team that emphatically proved it is enjoying a golden era. The 24-year-old won the downhill and super-G in Bormio, and he also took gold in the team combined alongside Tanguy Nef. Loic Meillard won the slalom, meaning the Swiss men claimed four of the five golds on offer, and eight of the 15 medals up for grabs. Meillard also won a silver and a bronze, while Marco Odermatt was a third Swiss skier to win three medals: two silvers and a bronze. Von Allmen joined Austrian Toni Sailer (1956) and France’s Jean-Claude Killy (1968) as the only male skiers to win three alpine golds at a single Winter Olympics. “Ski history is not that important for me, even if that sounds strange,” said Von Allmen. “It’s all about the here and now.”
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– **Lucas Pinheiro Braathen (BRA)** – Norwegian-born Brazilian Braathen won gold in the giant slalom, marking the first ever Winter Olympic medal for South America. Although he skied out of the first leg of the slalom, Braathen was happy to bask in the glory of his ground-breaking medal. “It goes without saying that I’m so beyond proud,” said Braathen, competing for his mother’s country after falling out with the Norwegian ski federation. “I still have this sun inside of me that’s just blossoming.”
– **Lindsey Vonn (USA)** – Vonn was one of the biggest names at the Milan-Cortina Games. The 41-year-old American’s stunning comeback after five years out of the sport following a partial knee replacement put her in contention for gold until she ruptured her anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee a week before the Games began. Vonn insisted on going ahead with the downhill, and everyone’s worst fears came true when she crashed just seconds after the start, sustaining a badly broken left leg that required four operations in Italy before she was flown back to the United States. “My Olympic dream did not finish the way I dreamt it would. It wasn’t a storybook ending or a fairytale, it was just life. I dared to dream and had worked so hard to achieve it,” said Vonn, adding: “In downhill ski racing, the difference between a strategic line and a catastrophic injury can be as small as five inches.”
– **Mikaela Shiffrin (USA)** – Shiffrin went some way to burying the demons of a miserable experience in Beijing four years ago when she won the women’s slalom. After taking slalom gold in the 2014 Sochi Games and triumphing in the giant slalom in Pyeongchang in 2018, Shiffrin failed to win a medal in Beijing and didn’t even complete three of her six races. There was no such drama on Wednesday, however, with the 30-year-old dominating the field to win by almost two seconds. “Showing up, that was the thing I wanted most, more than the medal,” said Shiffrin. “To also get to have a medal is unbelievable.”
– **Federica Brignone (ITA)** – Skiing just 10 months after breaking her leg, Brignone claimed two golds in a stunning display of skiing. Her loyal fans went mad in Cortina as the 35-year-old claimed Olympic titles in the super-G and giant slalom. Brignone joins men’s skiing icon Alberto Tomba in being the only Italians to take double gold in the same Games — Tomba won the slalom and giant slalom in Calgary in 1988. “It was such a surprise, a great surprise even to be here that all I did was try to stay relaxed, enjoy every moment,” Brignone said.
– **Atle Lie McGrath (NOR)** – McGrath was in tears after skiing out of the second leg of the men’s slalom. The US-born Norwegian had a healthy lead as the fastest in the first run, but he failed to negotiate a gate, capping an emotional couple of weeks marred by the death of his grandfather Svein, a key motivator in his career. “I’m normally a guy that’s very good when it comes to perspective on things, and if I don’t ski well in a race, I can at least tell myself that I’m healthy and my family’s healthy, and the people I love are here,” he said. “That’s not been the case.”
© 2024 AFP
