BEIJING — Mikaela Shiffrin is struggling on the mountain and off, and she needs to figure out which came first. Did she miss gates in the slalom and giant slalom because she is struggling mentally, or is she struggling mentally because she missed gates? These are deep questions that no skier wants to ask, let alone in the middle of the Olympics, but Shiffrin has to answer them for her own sake.
The 26-year-old is scheduled to ski the Super-G here Friday, and it will truly be a victory if she can just finish her run. She was never a medal favorite in this race anyway. What Shiffrin needs, as ridiculous as this sounds, is a physical reminder of how well she can ski.
The comparison to Simone Biles in Tokyo is so obvious that it would feel weird not to make it. Once again, the premier athlete in her sport, perhaps the best ever, is unable to complete tasks that are normally simple for her. The circumstances are not exactly the same, but as the Shiffrin saga continues, let’s try not to make the same mistakes so many people made with Biles.
