Early Monday morning, text messages flew back and forth between Mikaela Shiffrin and her brother Taylor long before the sun rose over the barren brown mountains streaked with rivers of man-made snow at the Yanqing National Alpine Centre.
Taylor Shiffrin kidded his sister about being up so early before her first race at these Winter Olympics, defending the gold medal she won in the giant slalom four years ago. It was the start of an ambitious week and a half in which she could chase medals in five individual events.
Then the unthinkable happened.
