Yanqing (China) (AFP) - Reigning champion Ester Ledecka and slalom gold medallist Petra Vlhova will ensure misfiring Mikaela Shiffrin goes into the Beijing Olympics super-G on Friday under massive pressure.
Shiffrin produced two unusual mistakes in both the slalom and giant slalom, skiing out early in both races.
It was the first time the American had done that in consecutive technical races since 2011, when she was 16 and in her inaugural World Cup season.
Czech snowboard gold medallist Ledecka and Vlhova, from Slovakia, along with Switzerland's world champion Lara Gut-Behrami, will be waiting to pounce in Yanqing.
Shiffrin redemption?
Mikaela Shiffrin saw her medal hopes in both the slalom and giant slalom drain away after barely making five gates in either race before uncharacteristically sliding out.
As disappointing as those results were, the American vowed to "try to re-set better this time".
She added: "I also don't know how to do better because I just don't.I have never been in this position before and I don't know how to handle it.
"We are not done yet but GS and slalom, those were my biggest focuses.It really feels like a lot of work for nothing.
"They will try to say, 'This happens and it's OK, and don't be too hard on yourself'.But it is a lot of work for a grand total of five gates in the GS and five gates in the slalom," Shiffrin said.
"That's not lost on me."
Vlhova hunts second gold
Vlhova kept her nerve to win the slalom at these Games, improving from eighth fastest in the first leg to register an impressive victory in Shiffrin's absence.
Her Swiss coach Mauro Pini said there was a clear plan for the 26-year-old Slovak."We have of course another big goal in the alpine combined.For us it's there, and we will try, I'm sure."
Snowboard crossover Ledecka
The reigning champion is the unlikely figure of cross-code star Ledecka, the Czech who successfully defended her snowboard parallel giant slalom title on Tuesday.
Ledecka became the first woman to win a gold medal in two different sports at a Winter Olympics when she took skiing and snowboarding titles in Pyeongchang four years ago.
After her snowboard success in Beijing, the 26-year-old is now strapping on two skis to target the super-G before going for gold in downhill and alpine combined.
"For me it's natural and I've been doing this since I was a child," she said of competing in both snowboarding and skiing.
Italian duo, Gut-Behrami lurk
The Italian trio of Federica Brignone, the silver medallist in the giant slalom who skied out of the slalom, Elena Curtoni and Sofia Goggia top World Cup standings in the super-G.
Reigning Olympic downhill champion Goggia, however, will sit out the race after failing to recover from a knee injury she sustained in a crash in Cortina last month.
The current world champion is Gut-Behrami, who won in Cortina in 2021 ahead of Swiss teammate Corinne Suter, and has already bagged giant slalom bronze in Beijing.
Second speed event
The super giant slalom, or the super-G as it is more commonly known, combines elements of the downhill and the giant slalom, and is decided over one race.
Skiers must negotiate widely-spaced gates, as in giant slalom, over a long course with speeds approaching those in downhill over a course that drops between 400 and 600 metres for women.
The minimum number of gates for women is 30. Unlike the downhill, skiers do not have the chance of a pre-race training run, only a one-hour visual inspection on the morning of the race.
It will be a first outing for the women on the "Rock" piste as two World Cup races, in 2020 and 2021, on the hill were cancelled because of Covid-19 restrictions in China.
