- Lindsey Vonn did not medal in the ladies’ combined event when her ski clipped a gate on her final run.
- Vonn had entered the final run in first place and had a good shot to win gold in the slalom portion of her final Olympic event.
- Fellow American Mikaela Shiffrin salvaged another medal by jumping up from sixth to second in the final run.
There was no final moment of Olympic glory for Lindsey Vonn as she blew a good shot at winning a gold medal in the ladies’ alpine combined when she clipped a gate and did not finish the slalom portion of the event.
Vonn entered the second run in first place, with more than a 0.7-second lead over Ragnhild Mowinckel of Norway and Michelle Gisin of Switzerland. Fellow American Mikaela Shiffrin was in sixth place after the downhill portion with a good shot at making up ground in the slalom, her specialty.
Vonn however, had not competed in a slalom event since injuring her knee in 2013. Still, after her third-place finish and emotional reaction to her final downhill race on Tuesday, it looked like she would rebound in the combined event on Thursday.
But on just the 13th gate, Vonn’s worst nightmare came true — her ski clipped the gate and she was out.
That gave the gold to Gisin, and elevated Shiffrin all the way up to silver following her strong run.
All Vonn could do was scream and shrug.
Vonn finished her final Olympics with just the one bronze medal in three events.
Meanwhile, Shiffrin salvaged her Olympics with her second medal after winning gold in the giant slalom.
Still, many will look back at Shiffrin’s performance and wonder what might have been with a little luck and some better weather.
She came into the Olympics hoping to win five medals. But delays in the schedule forced Shiffrin to withdraw from two events and she fell to fourth in her best event, the slalom, after a battle with nerves prior to one of her runs.
Still, two medals is a two-week run most would love to have.