Mikaela Shiffrin was never expected to be near the top in the downhill. 

And when the time came, she didn’t put forth a competitive run. 

The Vail, Colo. native continued an Olympics that has seen her struggle with a 1:34.36 run in the downhill event — out of the top-10 right off the bat. Initially, Shiffrin’s time was 1.92 seconds off the top, a gap that quickly grew as more competitors went. Shiffrin finished in 18th place, 2.49 seconds out of first. 

“Once again, today it was super fun,” Shiffrin told NBC. “And the speeds are definitely a little bit up and there’s a bit more wind playing around. … Felt I haven’t experienced as much in downhill, so I was a little bit like, ‘What do I do with this?’ But I still felt strong with my skiing.” 

Italy’s Sofia Goggia, the gold medalist in Pyeongchang, thought she might be on her way to repeating after laying down a 1:32.03. But Switzerland’s Corinne Suter quickly topped her with a 1:31.87. 

Suter took gold, with Goggia winning silver and fellow Italian Nadia Delago finishing third. Keely Cashman and Jacqueline Wilks, both American, finished in 17th and 21st place. Alix Wilkinson, the fourth American in the event, skied out. 

The downhill is considered Shiffrin’s weakest event — even prior to her Olympic struggles, she wasn’t expected to medal in it. Competing, though, keeps her on track to achieve her goal of entering all five individual events, with the Alpine combined coming up on Thursday. Shiffrin won silver in that event in Pyeongchang, and could have a chance in Beijing. 

Her issues earlier on in the Olympics, though, throw that into doubt. Shiffrin skied out in the slalom and giant slalom, a shock result for the gold-medal favorite. She managed to finish the super-G in ninth place. If she manages to win a gold medal at these Olympics, Shiffrin will be the first ever American Alpine skier to win three. 

But that seems a heavy ask at this point. 

“There’s a couple women who have a really good shot for strong downhill runs and then also really strong slalom runs,” Shiffrin said. “I don’t feel that anything’s guaranteed, not at all. Especially after the last couple weeks. 

“But I think I have a shot and that’s really nice. I’ll go for it and we’ll see.” 

Earlier in the week, Shiffrin wasn’t even sure she’d compete in the downhill, deciding on Monday to go ahead with the Tuesday morning event. 

“I’m not focusing on the medal anymore,” she told reporters ahead of the downhill. “It’s just trying to do my best execution every day.” 

Shiffrin has faced major adversity both before and during these Olympics. Her father, Jeff, died suddenly in February 2020. She also had a back injury and COVID-19 in the run-up to the Beijing Games. 

All of that has combined to derail what was expected to be a coronation for one of the world’s greatest skiers. 

At this point, following two disappointments in what was expected to be her two best events, it was never likely that Shiffrin would recover in the downhill. 

But now, at least in the individual events, she’ll have just one more chance to salvage these Games.