Shiffrin's 'sure as heck' gold

KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia — The first Olympics he went to, in his very first race, 15-year-old Michael Phelps took fifth place. He got right back in the pool and, soon enough, he set his first world record. In his next Olympic race — which, because of the calendar, had to wait four years — he won gold. In her first Olympic race, the women’s giant slalom here Tuesday, 18-year-old Mikaela Shiffrin took fifth. She said, “I think this is supposed to happen,” adding, “The next Olympics I go to, I sure as heck am not getting fifth.”

There are moments, even at the Olympics, that are genuinely special. These moments make memories that last through the years. They also make cross-over stars, the ones who can make it big outside the confines of a niche like alpine skiing.

Mikaela Shiffrin didn’t have to wait four full years. She sure as heck gave it the full Friday Night Lights treatment here at Rosa Khutor, throwing down two incredible — and very different — runs to win gold in the women’s slalom.

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Austria's Big Red Machine is back

KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia — After Austrian racers had on Saturday dominated yet another  edition of the women’s Olympic super-G, the Canadian skier Canadian Marie-Michele Gagnon was asked the obvious: how can this be? And she laughed. The fourth gold medal — out of eight — in Olympic super-G history? The third Olympic super-G gold in a row?

On a day when 18 of the 49 best racers in the world didn’t even finish, the highest drop-out rate in women’s super-G Olympic history, an attrition rate of 36.7 percent, the Austrians went 1-3, Anna Fenninger taking gold, Nicole Hosp bronze. Only a late surge into second place by Germany’s Maria Hoefl-Riesch kept it from being 1-2.

Gagnon laughed because the answer, too, was obvious: “Why are Canadians good at hockey?

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