Mikaela Shiffrin's Beijing Olympics has been disappointing to say the least. She entered all five women's individual Alpine skiing races, and did not finish three of them. She didn't come close to a medal.
Mikaela Shiffrin, Paula Moltzan expected to lead U.S. in team Alpine skiing event at Olympics
The event became part of the Olympic program in 2018 in an effort to increase medal opportunities for women.
February 18, 2022 at 6:25PM
But she plans to be part of the team event on Friday, along with Prior Lake's Paula Moltzan. River Radamus, Tommy Ford, A.J. Hurt and Luke Winters are expected to join them to make up the U.S. team.
The team event became part of the Olympic program in 2018 as part of an effort to attain gender balance by increasing medal opportunities for women.
Time/TV: Friday, round of 16, 9 p.m. (USA); quarterfinals, 9:47 p.m. (USA); semifinals, 10:14 p.m. (USA); bronze medal race, 10:37 p.m. (Ch. 11); gold medal race, 10:46 p.m. (Ch. 11)
How it works: Sixteen teams are seeded in a bracket. A team must win four rounds to win the gold medal. Each round consists of four races — two for men and two for women. Skiers from each country will race, side by side, on identical parallel slalom courses. The winner of each race earns a point, and the team with the most points after the four races advances to the next round. If the countries are tied 2-2, the team with the best aggregate time moves on.
Defending champions: Switzerland won the gold medal in 2018, Austria the silver and Norway the bronze.
The favorites: The U.S. is not expected to medal because its team, particularly on the men's side, is not especially deep. Switzerland has won nine Alpine skiing medals so far in Beijing, including five golds, so the Swiss figure to be the team to beat. Norway was the 2021 world champion in the event, joined on the podium by Sweden and Germany.
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