PYEONGCHANG, South Korea _ After another weather-related change to the Alpine skiing schedule at the Pyeongchang Olympics, Mikaela Shiffrin has dropped Wednesday's downhill.
With winds expected to increase later in the week, organizers shifted the women's combined from Friday to Thursday.
Skipping the downhill allows Shiffrin to avoid back-to-back races and focus on the combined. She will contend for a gold medal in the event.
"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," Shiffrin said in a statement Monday.
Her pre-Games plan of attempting to medal in five events hasn't gone as expected. After starting off with a gold medal in the giant slalom, she finished a surprising fourth in the slalom, her best event. She dropped the super-G after weather compacted the 11-event Alpine schedule.
Shiffrin finished 16th in Monday's downhill training run at the Jeongseon Alpine Center. Teammate Lindsey Vonn, third in the training run, is the favorite in the race.
