Winter Olympics: American favourite Mikaela Shiffrin skis out of women's slalom

Mikaela Shiffrin has 73 career wins on the World Cup circuit and has three Olympic medals

American pre-Games favourite Mikaela Shiffrin feels "pretty low right now" after her terrible start to Beijing 2022 continued when she failed to finish her second race in a row.

Unable to believe it, she sat on the side of the piste next to the netting with her skis off and head down.

She said she felt "pretty awful".

Shiffrin added: "But it won't feel awful for ever. I just feel pretty low right now."

She had come to Beijing planning to race in all five individual alpine events, but her best chances of gold were expected to be in these two events that she has failed to finish.

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"I was pushing out of the start. I had full intentions of skiing as hard as I could," said Shiffrin, who won gold in the slalom as a teenager at Sochi 2014.

"I slipped up a little bit on one turn and I just didn't give myself room to make any kind of error like that. I was planning to go on the most aggressive line, the most challenging line to ski.

"But I also know it's the fastest. I didn't make it past five gates, so I guess that's what happened."

German Lena Duerr is leading the event after the first run with a time of 52.17 seconds.

Britain's Charlie Guest is 15th, however compatriot Alex Tilley failed to finish after she missed a gate before the last section of the course.

The top 30 will race again later on Wednesday to determine the final standings and medals.

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