Mikaela Shiffrin wins gold medal in 2018 Winter Olympics giant slalom

PYEONGCHANG, South Korea --The Alpine gold rush is on.

American Mikaela Shiffrin began her much-anticipated debut at the 2018 Winter Olympics on Thursday by taking the gold medal in the giant slalom.

She finished with a two-run total of 2:20.02. Ragnhild Mowinckel of Norway took silver with 2:20.41 and Federica Brignone of Italy won bronze in 2:20.49.

Shiffrin was in second place after her first run at the Yongpyong Alpine Centre. She was fifth in this event at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. Afterwards she said she would not be fifth in the next Olympics, a vow she kept -- even if she didn't remember it.

"I forgot about that," she said on NBC right after the race. "It's been a work in progress every season with the giant slalom. And it seems I’ve come up just a little bit short. There was always somebody better than me."

Not this time, not on the biggest stage.

"It’s incredible," she said. "I’m so happy.”

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In the Sochi Games, Shiffrin, then 18, became the youngest skier to win a gold medal in the slalom. She has bigger ambitions here. She is expected to compete in all five individual Alpine events and win up to three gold medals.

Her medal quest was delayed twice by weather, with the giant slalom originally set for Sunday before being rescheduled for Thursday and the slalom set for Wednesday before being rescheduled for Friday.

“Oh my gosh, last night I was like, are we ever going to race?’’ Shiffrin, 22 said after her first run. “No, it’s really nice. It’s fair today which is really, really important at the Olympics. The conditions are great, the weather is beautiful and it’s a pleasure to be racing today.’’

Contributing: Nancy Armour

Follow Josh Peter on Twitter @joshlpeter11