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Michelle Gisin's second straight Olympic title in the Alpine combined lifted Switzerland's ski team to a record haul in China.
Gisin won Thursday's two-leg race at Yanqing National Alpine Skiing Center, completing her slalom run shortly after Mikaela Shiffrin again skied off course. That gave the Swiss team a fifth Alpine gold medal at the Beijing Games.
No country has even won so many Alpine events at one Winter Games.
"Four years ago I did it with my downhill and this time I did it with my slalom," Gisin said, referring to the two disciplines that make up the combined race. "It’s a pity that Mikaela did not finish. I would love to have battled for gold with her."
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Michelle Gisin of Switzerland celebrates winning the gold medal during the medal ceremony for the women's combined at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Thursday, Feb. 17, 2022, in the Yanqing district of Beijing. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
The 28-year-old Gisin was 12th after the downhill but was 0.87 faster than anyone else through the falling snow in the slalom. Her combined time was 2 minutes, 25.67 seconds.
"It’s crazy. It’s insane, actually. I wouldn’t have thought that after the downhill," Gisin said. "I thought, I just have to ski the slalom of my life, and I think that was one of the slalom runs of my life."
Gisin, who recovered from illness last year following a diagnosis of mononucleosis in July, beat Switzerland teammate Wendy Holdener by more than a second. Federica Brignone of Italy was third.
"I didn’t take enough risk for the win, because Michelle skied amazing," Holdener said. "But it was also a special situation because I knew Mikaela was out, so not that easy."
All three had already won medals in China. Gisin took bronze in the super-G, Holdener earned bronze in the slalom and Brignone won a silver in the giant slalom.
"It was unexpected but expected," Brigone said about Thursday's medal. "In combined in the last five years I’ve been one of the best. In the big events I never did it so it’s my first combined medal and I’m pretty happy and proud."
Switzerland's other gold medalists were Corinne Suter in the women's downhill, Lara Gut-Behrami in the women's super-G, Marco Odermatt in the men's giant slalom and Beat Feuz in the men's downhill.
Shiffrin was fifth-fastest in the downhill portion of the race but the two-time Olympic champion went out without making it to the bottom in the slalom leg. The American won a silver medal in the combined four years ago.
Shiffrin has had a rough time on the slalom slope. She skied out in the giant slalom and the slalom — the two events she has previously won at the Olympics. She then finished ninth in the super-G and 18th in Tuesday’s downhill.
Ester Ledecka ended up in fourth place in her bid to win a back-to-back double.
The 2018 super-G champion became the first competitor to win gold in two different sports at the same Winter Games four years ago. She successfully defended her gold in snowboarding’s parallel giant slalom last week but missed out in both the super-G and the combined.
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