PYEONGCHANG: American ace Mikaela Shiffrin has pulled out of Wednesday's Olympic downhill after a switch in the race schedule caused by approaching bad weather, US officials said Monday.
Her decision came after Pyeongchang organisers announced they would bring forward Friday's combined event to Thursday because of strong winds forecast later in the week.
"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 two-time Olympic champion Shiffrin.
"I'm looking forward to cheering on our girls racing in the downhill and to compete myself in Thursday's combined."
The 22-year-old, who had targeted multiple gold medals at these Games, won the giant slalom earlier this week but bombed in Friday's wind-delayed slalom, her signature event, finishing fourth after vomiting with nerves before the start.
Heavy winds at the start of the Games caused havoc with the alpine ski programme, but organisers have taken an early decision to bring forward the combined event after looking at the weather reports.
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