PYEONGCHANG, South Korea -- The Pyeongchang Olympics are about to get Shiffrolled.
The first gold medal of these Games was always going to be the hardest for Mikaela Shiffrin, and the blustery winds that wreaked havoc with the schedule did nothing to help. Now that she has one gold, however, expect more to follow.
“It’s been a mental strain the last couple of days, thinking we were going to race and then not racing,” she said Thursday, after winning gold in the giant slalom. “Now we got the ball rolling.”
When Shiffrin said four years ago that she wanted to win five golds here, it was written off as a joke or the exuberance of an 18-year-old who had just won her first Olympic title.