EDWARDS, Colo. — For the second time in a week, Mikaela Shiffrin's family gathered to watch her compete in the Winter Olympics and saw her do something she never does.
"Hence the deja vu," said her brother, Taylor.
Five seconds into her first run on the slalom Wednesday, the American skier from Colorado missed a gate – and was disqualified from her strongest event, one that she won at the 2014 Sochi Olympics.
It happened two days after she skied off the course 11 seconds into her first run on the giant slalom.
After the slalom, Shiffrin skied over to the edge of the course and sat down, bowing her head. She stayed there for several minutes.
From half a world away in Edwards, her family and friends hurt for her.
"You can tell from her facial expression, it stinks. It hurts," Taylor said.
It was 16 seconds of Olympic racing that left even Shiffrin in doubt. Afterward, she said in an interview, "Pretty much everything makes me second-guess the last 15 years. Everything I thought I knew about my own skiing, and slalom and racing mentality."
Her family doesn't second-guess, at all.
"That's not going to change how much we love her," Taylor said. "That's not going to change how much support we will provide for her."
Because 16 seconds of racing can't undo years of accomplishments.
"She could retire tomorrow, and I would still be unbelievably proud of her," Taylor said.
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