Close, but no cigar. The Olympics are a collection of moments, miss one of them, and the opportunity is lost. And perhaps US Team alpine skier Mikaela Shiffrin knows this best. Shiffrin on her first run, missed a gate and was knocked out of the woman’s slalom event on Tuesday.

The 26-year-old is in a bid to become the only American to win 3 individual Olympic Golds and could see her bid take a hit after this loss. She did however say that she plans on racing again this Olympics, not denting her achievement standards even in the least. Words of wisdom came from past athletes when Lindsey Vonn took to Twitter to wish Shiffrin.

Shiffrin had high hopes from her signature event. The women’s slalom is historically where Shiffrin has performed the best. And nothing seemed specifically wrong when Shiffrin started her run either. She was 7th out of the gates and for the first 4 gates chose quite an aggressive line.

However, around the 4th gate, her ski slipped and kicked out a bit too wide, which saw her end her run. Shiffrin sat along the slope next to the netting for several minutes after concluding her run in disbelief; as her competitors flew past on their runs on the technical course nicknamed, the Icy River, all Shiffrin could do was watch.

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Lindsey Vonn wishes Mikaela Shiffrin on her exit

Perhaps speaking from experience, Vonn would’ve been at the receiving end of several such exits along her career and perhaps that makes her most able to put her arm around Shiffrin in such a scenario. In a tweet that she put out, she asked Shiffrin to “keep your head high” and not fear that her storied career will not one day be celebrated, regardless. Even stating that the crash does nothing to affect “what she can and will accomplish going forward.”

Shiffrin’s Early Exit

Shiffrin created waves across the skiing world after her win at the Sochi Games, becoming the youngest Olympic slalom champion. She has since gone on to dominate the sport in the year to come. She’s won more World Cup slalom races than any male or female skier (47). And to add to her tally, she’s also got her name on four world championships.

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There’s something to be said about consistency here too; Shiffrin has six World Cup discipline titles to her name. These titles are awarded to skiers for sustained excellence over the course of an entire season.

Shiffrin had failed to finish a race only twice in four years prior to featuring at the Beijing Games. And even stretching back her record, 13 times in a total of 228 starts across all disciplines at World Cup, Olympic, and world championship events. Her last consecutive DNFs in technical races? Back in December 2011, when she was 16.

This is definitely an anomaly, but that’s the Olympics for you. One slip-up and boom goes the dynamite.

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