Mikaela Shiffrin withdraws from women's downhill at Olympics

The weather continued to toy with Mikaela Shiffrin’s Olympics on Monday evening as the latest change to the alpine skiing schedule prompted the American star to withdraw from Wednesday’s downhill.

Shiffrin, who opened her bid for multiple medals with a gold in Thursday’s giant slalom before a disappointing fourth-place finish in her signature slalom the next day, announced she will skip the downhill after the alpine combined was moved from Friday to Thursday due to a projected forecast of strong winds.

“As much as I wanted to compete in the Olympic downhill, with the schedule change it’s important for me to focus my energy on preparing for the combined,” said Shiffrin in a statement. “I’m looking forward to cheering on our girls racing in the downhill and to compete myself in Thursday’s combined.”

Shiffrin’s three core events at these Olympics were always to be the giant slalom, slalom and the alpine combined, which consists of one downhill run and one slalom run, with decisions on the super-G and the downhill to be made on the week. The delayed start to last week’s competition forced her withdrawal from the super-G and now further weather-related considerations will cost her a shot in the downhill.

The United States will announce its starting lineup for the women’s downhill on Tuesday.