Olympic Alpine Skiing

Alpine skiing will conclude on Saturday with the men's slalom. This sport has been one of the most action-packed in all of the 2014 Olympics in Sochi and should provide a dramatic conclusion on Day 15. Featuring a plethora of talented athletes from around the world, it should be a very tight race for the podium.

Saturday's action will have two different runs on the slalom with the athlete who posts the lowest-combined score taking home the coveted gold medal.

Intensity will be at an all-time high, as countries continue to race for the overall medal lead:

This is an event that should not be missed. That being said, let's take a look at the event's schedule and viewing information followed by a prediction of which athletes will find Olympic glory on the podium.

Viewing Information

This event can also be live streamed on NBCOlympics.com and viewed on NBC's prime-time coverage at 8 p.m. ET.

Outlook

Marcel Hirscher of Austria is the name to watch here. He is ranked at the top of the World Cup rankings in this event and figures to be the early favorite.

Despite barely missing out on a medal in the early goings of the Olympics—he finished fourth in the men's giant slalom—Hirscher has the talent to right the ship and come away with the gold medal here.

Don't sleep on United States skier Ted Ligety. Even though he is ranked 31st in the world in this event, he is riding an extreme high right now after taking home a surprise gold medal in the men's giant slalom.

Scott Stump of Today wrote about Ligety's relief after finally earning an Olympic gold medal:

It was definitely worth the wait. It was pretty nerve-wracking, though, especially (because) my first two events here didn't go all that great. I was hoping to try to medal in those as well. The giant slalom I always knew was my bread and butter, so to get that one is a really, really big relief.

There is a strong possibility that Ligety's hot streak and new-found confidence could help him pave the way to another trip to the podium.

Ivica Kostelic of Croatia currently has his lowest slalom World Cup ranking in years at 15th overall. However, he has previously spent three consecutive years ranked within the top three. Kostelic has also found success in Sochi, earning a silver medal in the men's super combined.

At the age of 34, Kostelic is one of the veterans of this event. If he can maintain his form, he could very well earn his second medal of the 2014 Olympic Games.

It's also hard to discount Felix Neureuther of Germany in this event. He got off to a slow start in Sochi, finishing eighth in the men's giant slalom. However, he is ranked second in the slalom in the World Cup standings.

He could flourish on Saturday being that he will finally be skiing in his best event.

Prediction

This field of athletes is so deep and full of talent that it can be speculated that a dark horse will emerge from the pack and surprise the world. However, it will be rather difficult for anyone attempting that feat to surpass the veterans and current Alpine skiing champions.

Expect Hirscher to finish strong here—he will not want to leave Sochi empty-handed. Kostelic and Ligety look to be strong contenders as well due to their hot streaks. We should be in for an intense event and a dramatic conclusion on Day 15 of the Olympics.

Gold Medal: Marcel Hirscher, Austria

Silver Medal: Ivica Kostelic, Croatia

Bronze Medal: Ted Ligety, United States

The 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi has featured more ups and downs for the United States alpine skiing team than the very skiing courses that it competes on.

After winning an American-high eight medals in the 2010 Games in Vancouver, the team only captured one of the first 15 medals given out in Sochi. Sure, missing superstar Lindsey Vonn because of an injury was a blow, but that only explained some of the early struggles.

What a difference two gold medals can make.

Ted Ligety took home the gold medal in the men’s giant slalom and teenager Mikaela Shiffrin won the women’s slalom to give the United States its first two golds in the alpine skiing events. As a whole, the Red, White and Blue has five alpine medals, which is tied for second-best with the 1984 team.

Ligety was absolutely dominant in the giant slalom, separating himself from silver medalist Steve Missillier of France by .48 seconds and bronze medalist Alexis Pinturault of France by .64 seconds. Teammate Bode Miller discussed Ligety’s performance in comments that were passed along by Alan Abrahamson of NBCOlympics.com:

He carries so much speed and just doesn’t really make mistakes. Those are the things that separate him.

Other guys carry speed for a couple turns. They struggle a little bit. He just carries it smooth, top to bottom. He consistently puts time on guys the whole way down. He’s not doing a miracle in one section. He just pulls time on top, pulls more time in the middle, pulls more time on the bottom. There’s no question who is the best GS skier right now.

With his gold, Ligety became the first man in the history of the Winter Olympics to win the gold in giant slalom and the combined, which he captured in the 2006 Olympics in Torino.

Ligety may not be the first name you think of when listing dominant Winter Olympians, but he has to be included in the discussion with that distinction.

On the women’s side of things, Shiffrin made skiing history by becoming the youngest person to ever win an Olympic slalom gold medal.

NBC Sports captured her in action:

Shiffrin’s dominance in her first run carried her to victory, although she almost fell on the second run when she briefly lost her balance before recovering it in impressive fashion. She shared her mindset during that fleeting moment with reporters in comments that were passed along by CBS News:

Yeah, that was pretty terrifying for me. There I was, I'm like Grreat. I'm just going to go win my first medal. And then in the middle of the run, I'm like Guess not. So, like, No. Don't do that. Do not give up. You see this through. My whole goal was to just keep my skis moving.

She finished .53 seconds ahead of Marlies Schild of Austria, who captured the silver.

Shiffrin completed a slalom season that included gold medals at the Olympics and the world championship as well as a season-long World Cup title, which is incredible considering she is still 18 years old.

Looking ahead, it will be interesting to see if this Olympic gold medal propels Shiffrin to a legendary type of career like the one Vonn has enjoyed. She will only be 22 at the next Games, and another gold medal is certainly in the realm of possibilities.

Multiple Olympic championships is the surest way to ensure yours status as an all-time great in alpine skiing.

Alas, she gets to enjoy her golden moment in Sochi after an incredible performance. 

In the process, she helped salvage the 2014 Olympics for the American alpine team.

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Mikaela Shiffrin won Alpine skiing gold in grand style Friday, averting near-disaster in the slalom with a clutch recovery one would never expect from an 18-year-old.

Shiffrin's victory makes her the youngest Olympic slalom champion all-time, male or female. She's also America's first gold medalist in the event since Barbara Cochran survived by .02 of a second at Sapporo, a figurative ice age ago, in 1972.

She's now firmly entrenched as her sport's next Lindsey Vonn, a skier whose results match her dynamic personality. But I think Shiffrin also richly deserves a second, unofficial title: U.S. Darling of the 2014 Winter Olympics.

The "Darling" title is usually handed to America's most successful figure skater, or its youngest.

In that sport another 18-year-old, fourth-place finisher Gracie Gold, certainly had the name and the look to claim it. And by finishing a graceful ninth, 15-year-old Polina Edmunds guaranteed we'll be bombarded with updates on her progress during the four-year buildup to the 2018 Games in South Korea.

But I'll take Shiffrin as the young American woman who most seized the moment in Sochi, and also the imagination.

Figure skaters have praise heaped upon them for landing triple jumps amid suffocating pressure, but Shiffrin thrived at a venue that's equally unforgiving.

Halfway through her second run in the slalom, it appeared disaster had struck and would detonate the big lead Shiffrin put up during her seamless first trip down the zig-zag course. Making a right turn, Shiffrin careened and her left ski lifted frighteningly high off the snow.

It seemed like yet another of those heart-thumping moments that precedes every heart-breaking crash at the Winter Olympics. But the teen sensation from Vail, Colo., somehow pulled it back together in the next millisecond and completed her golden journey without further incident.

"It was a pretty crazy moment there," Shiffrin said (via USA Today). "I went out of the start, and I was like, 'I'm going fast.' Then I went out of that flush and was like, 'I'm not gonna make it. I'm not gonna make it.' I threw on a hockey stop right there. That was a little bit tough."

Her ultimate reaction was the same one all her fans had: "It scared me half to death."

Even so, the sleek Shiffrin's winning margin ended up being a fat .53 of a second on silver medalist Marlies Schild, the 32-year-old Austrian who has stockpiled a record 35 World Cup titles in the slalom.

It was a conclusive victory by a youngster who at no time hedged on her gold-medal expectations. She never put alibis in place that weather or her age and inexperience could block her path to the podium.

"I've been here before in my head for sure," Shiffrin said at her Sochi press conference last Saturday. "To everybody, this is my first Olympics. But to me it's my thousandth."

One guesses those 1,000 imaginary trips didn't include Friday's near-calamity, but that's what made the result just that much more daring for the American Darling of these Games.

Shiffrin won her gold on a course that started and ended with steep pitches and that had gates strung together as tightly as dreadlocks. It was judged to be one of the toughest in Olympic history, and the 25 women who either failed to finish their first run or were disqualified would certainly agree with that assessment.

So would the three elite skiers who were in the top 20 the first time through but wiped out on their second try.  

That's where Shiffrin won the first of what could be many Olympic medals, outdoors in the elements, negotiating a comfort zone with Mother Nature. When she reached the finish line there was no arguing with the outcome, because computerized stopwatches don't lie.

Unlike figure skating, there was no panel of judges with nationalistic concerns guiding their opinions. No biased scoring cloaked in anonymity. No hen-pecking about whether Shiffrin wore too many or too few sequins, or whether her fluid flow through unforgiving gates matched her choice of music.

Her race was pure sport, up on the hill, and not a single crack showed in her demeanor as she looked catastrophe in the eye and refused to blink.

Shiffrin seemed like a certain and easy winner after her first run of 52.62 seconds gave her a lead of .49 of a second.

"I was pretty relaxed, actually," Shiffrin told reporters (via the Los Angeles Times) in between runs. "Thank goodness, because there were a couple points throughout the day where I was like, 'Oh my God, here you are.' But no, I was relaxed in the start and that was awesome."

Shiffrin's mother, Eileen, told USA Today (via The Journal News) after the first run that her daughter was battling a slight cold but seemed to have her nerves settled.

"It's nerve-racking. It just is," said Eileen, who also once was a ski racer. "She seemed in a good place when she went up there. But nerves are funny. You can be fine the next second and awful the next second. You never know when it's going to creep in there. You can't let it creep in there."

Shiffrin obviously didn't.

As the final skier of the second run, she had to wait out failed assaults by Slovenia's Tina Maze, a two-time gold medalist in Sochi, and defending champion Maria Hoefl-Riesch of Germany.

Maze, after winning the giant slalom Tuesday in difficult conditions, had stopped just short of predicting Shiffrin's slalom victory.

“Now she’s done GS, so will probably be more relaxed for slalom,” the Slovenian said of Shiffrin's fifth-place finish in the giant slalom. “She’s a great athlete. She has a great team around her. They are working really good. For that age, she’s great, amazing.”

While some women joked they could have used windshield wipers to get through the giant slalom, Shiffrin didn't gripe about the rain, fog or wet snow that added difficulty to her Olympic debut.

Instead, she looked ahead to the slalom, her signature event, where she has won three of six World Cup races this season.

“I’ve been preparing for this for my entire life, really. Whether I knew it or not at the time, every single instance, every event that’s happened to me—it’s been preparation for this and preparation for whatever happens in my future,” Shiffrin said (via The Associated Press). “I’ve always been really aware of that.”

Aware of it, and ready for it.

Tom Weir has covered eight Winter Olympics as a columnist and reporter for USA Today. You can follow him on Twitter at @TomWeirSports.

Team USA's Mikaela Shiffrin added to her fast-growing resume on Friday in Sochi, earning the gold medal in the women's slalom final at the 2014 Winter Olympics.

The 18-year-old entered the 2014 Games as a favorite in the event after winning gold in the slalom at the 2013 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships. Still, the Olympic stage is an entirely different animal, and the fact Shiffrin was able to tame it speaks volumes about her poise and potential moving forward.

In addition to her maturity, Shiffrin's impressive performance highlights her resilience. 

After all, it was just days ago that the skiing prodigy was making headlines for her disappointing finish in the women's giant slalom. Although fifth place is nothing to sneeze at, rising expectations and the absence of Lindsey Vonn has forced Shiffrin into the spotlight. 

For a first-time Olympian under that level of pressure, Shiffrin's podium-worthy performance deserves lots of praise. 

She took a commanding lead in the first run of the day, jumping out to a lead of over half a second, which she held throughout the second run. Shiffrin talked about that lead to Shira Springer of The Boston Globe after her first run: 

“I’m not really worried about the lead right now,” she said. “Actually, five-tenths isn’t even that much. It’s a two-run race.

“Mostly, my plan was to try to move my feet a little bit faster than everybody else. I guess I moved them about five-tenths faster.”

Shiffrin's fast feet clearly paid off in spectacular fashion, with an impressive win over a very strong field of competitors. 

Now, with an Olympic gold medal to her name, Shiffrin will leave Sochi with more than just fond memories. She now has a legacy to build on in the future and a never-ending source of confidence when it comes to competing at the highest level.

Only time will tell whether Shiffrin will go down as one of the elite American Alpine skiing athletes. But it's safe to say that she's off to a strong start.  

Follow Bleacher Report Featured Columnist Patrick Clarke on Twitter. 

Day 14 of the 2014 Winter Olympics delivers the ladies' slalom in Alpine skiing as the sport's final event for the women. There are crucial differences between the different downhill events, but slalom is the shortest and slowest race. There are many gates close together and the event requires painstaking precision throughout the run, so a momentary lapse in concentration will dash Olympic dreams.

We preview this ruthless Alpine event and break down everything you need to know, including viewing information and all of the top favorites for a medal.

When: Friday, Feb. 21, 7:45 a.m. ET

Where: Rosa Khutor Alpine Resort, Krasnaya Polyana, Russia (approximately 40 miles from Sochi)

Watch: NBC Primetime, 8-11 p.m. ET

Stream: NBCOlympics.com and on the Live Extra app

American Julia Mancuso claimed first in the downhill portion of the ladies' super combined, but German Maria Hoefl-Riesch stormed back in the slalom element to claim gold and bump Mancuso to third. Hoefl-Riesch also won silver in the super-G (super-giant slalom, a longer and faster course than giant slalom).

Mancuso's teammate Mikaela Shiffrin is just 18 years old, but she is considered the favorite to win gold in slalom. She took first place in slalom at the 2013 world championships in Schladming, Austria, and this is the best event for the youngster from Vail, Colo. 

As noted by Howard Fendrich of the Associated Press (via ABC), Shiffrin has utterly dominated the field in slalom as of late: 

After a fifth-place finish in the giant slalom, the American gets to race Friday in her specialty, the slalom, which she has ruled for the past two years, including a world championship and World Cup title. She's won eight of the past 18 slaloms; no one else has won more than two in that span.

Moreover, after finishing fifth in the giant slalom at Sochi, Shiffrin sounded very motivated by the somewhat disappointing result. According to Bill Pennington of the New York Times, Shiffrin spoke at the post-race area and was already looking toward the next event and the next Olympics for giant slalom as well:

This is something I’ll learn from, and the next Olympics I go to, I’m sure as heck not getting fifth...There were four girls who skied better than I did, and I’m really excited to analyze their skiing and analyze mine. It’s good to get the first Olympic race out of the way and focus on the next one.

The 18-year-old Shiffrin seems as focused as she is confident, and the rest of the field should be very worried. 

Austrian Anna Fenninger has looked great so far, winning gold in the super-G and silver in giant slalom, but she is not competing in the slalom. That will be left to her countrywoman Nicole Hosp, who also has a pair of medals from Sochi, with a silver in super combined and a bronze in super-G. 

However, Tina Maze of Slovenia is seeking her third gold of the Games after finishing first in the downhill and giant slalom, so there is plenty of talent in the field for Shiffrin to contend with. 

According to Oddschecker, Shiffrin is the clear favorite to win with 6-4 odds, ahead of Austrian Marlies Schild at 3-1 and Swede Frida Hansdotter, who is a 7-1 shot. However, gold-medal winners Maze and Hoefl-Riesch trail just behind at 15-2 and 8-1, respectively.

Whoever claims gold, it seems assured that Shiffrin has a storied career in Alpine skiing ahead of her. At just 18, she is more than a decade younger than her top four challengers for gold in slalom.

Shiffrin is already planning out her next Olympics, but draping a gold around her neck in Sochi would set up a very propitious career indeed.

Though his second run in Wednesday's giant slalom competition at the Sochi Olympics led to a time of 1 minute and 24.21 seconds and a 14th-place mark, Ted Ligety—who had turned in a stellar 1:21.08 time in his opening run—still became the first American man to win Olympic gold in the event, with a total time of 2:45.29.

Ligety's margin of victory in Wednesday's event—in which he was viewed as the favorite—was 0.48 seconds over silver medalist Steve Missillier of France and 0.64 ahead of bronze medalist Alexis Pinturault, also of France.

In the process, the 29-year-old Ligety also became just the second American Alpine skier to earn two Olympic gold medals. His first came during the 2006 Winter Games in Turin, when he triumphed in the men's super combined event. Andrea Mead-Lawrence previously accomplished the feat by winning both the slalom and giant slalom events in the 1952 Oslo Winter Games.

Meanwhile, American skiers who have one Olympic gold medal to their credit are Phil Mahre, Bill Johnson, Picabo Street, Bode Miller, Lindsey Vonn and Julia Mancuso.

Ligety's satisfying win Wednesday came after he turned in a 12th-place finish in the super combined event at Sochi and a 14th-place showing in the super-G competition.

The alpine skiing portion of the 2014 Winter Games is near its end after more than a week of thrilling action that has seen Olympic legends rise to the occasion to take the podium.

Luckily for fans of the discipline, two events remain as both the men and women's rosters will still compete in the regular slalom events.

The final events are worthy of the time investment from fans as the final chapter is written from Sochi. As always, there are several names fans should monitor overall as they are medal contenders and tout intriguing stories.

Like the rest of the Games, American viewers can watch the early-morning spectacles live on NBC Live Extra.

Note: All info courtesy of Sochi2014.com unless otherwise specified.

David Chodounsky, United States

America, and really the globe, loves an underdog story.

Fans will have to look no further than David Chodounsky to find one in the men's slalom. If Chodounsky is going to somehow overcome Austria's Marcel Hirscher and Germany's Felix Neureuther, he will need the best run of his career to date.

Oh, and the last American to medal in slalom was Steve Mahre—in 1984.

The odds are certainly against Chodounsky, but he is in the midst of a breakout year. At the age of 29, he scored his first top-10 placement in a World Cup with a seventh-place finish in December and an eighth-place finish in January.

Momentum is a powerful thing at times, and Chodounsky has the right mixture of it and experience to potentially break through to the podium for the U.S. for the first time in quite some time.

Felix Neureuther, Germany

The massive favorite going into Sochi, Neureuther was unfortunately involved in a car accident and sustained injuries beforehand that have impacted his performance.

Days after the crash in which he suffered whiplash, bruised ribs and pulled ligaments in his back, Neureuther came in eighth in the men's giant slalom—the weaker of his two technical events.

He told reporters after the event that he can use the experience to build for the final event, via Annika Breidthardt of Reuters:

It's a massive miracle that I was able to start here today. It's a massive load off my mind. Olympic Games are only every four years - not being able to start here would have been really bitter for me.

I took a big risk to start and it has paid off because I now know I can compete on Saturday. That just makes me happy, really happy.

While his finish was by no means a worthy of a podium appearance, given the circumstances, it is one to celebrate. Christopher Clarey of The New York Times put it best:

Despite injuries, it is unwise to think Neureuther cannot make a run at the podium.

Mikaela Shiffrin, United States

Mikaela Shiffrin finished in fifth place in the giant slalom event.

Not bad for an 18-year-old rising star in her first Olympic event tasked with taking down Olympic legends such as Tina Maze.

Shiffrin now has experience to build on and says she will take the same approach into the slalom event, via Shira Springer of The Boston Globe:

“I’m going to do the same thing I tried to do today,” she said, “just race from the very start to the very finish. I’m going to try and take as much speed into the slalom as possible.”

A podium appearance is not out of the question now that Shiffrin has her first Olympic event under her belt. While the old guard is obviously something to watch in the event, the U.S. may have the next big thing on its hands in the sport if Shiffrin can emerge on the podium to close the Games.

The U.S. Alpine skiing team has fared rather well at the 2014 Winter Olympics, but there are still three events remaining in the sport in Sochi, Russia. With it come at least two legitimate chances for the Americans to add to their overall medal count and land some athletes on the podium.

All of the competitions are slalom-specific, and the first two feature Ted Ligety in the men's giant slalom and Mikaela Shiffrin in the women's slalom. They offer the best chance for the USA to medal in these events, while David Chodounsky is a bit of a long shot in the men's regular slalom event.

Let's take a closer look at these athletes and why they represent the best hope for the U.S. to add more hardware to an already impressive collection at this year's Winter Games.

Men's Giant Slalom: Ted Ligety

So the Olympics haven't gone quite as Ligety would have hoped thus far.

In two events, he's not cracked the top 10—much less threatened for the podium. He came in 12th in the super combined and 14th in the super-G final.

Those previous letdowns were disappointing since Ligety won world championships in 2013 in both the super combined and super-G. Giant slalom is his true expertise, though, as he's won world championships in 2011 and 2013—and he finished third in 2009.

Ligety has fallen far short of all expectations thus far, so Wednesday offers a chance for redemption. Nothing less than the best will do, either. David Leon Moore of USA Today reported what Ligety had to say about his frame of mind:

Every event is totally different. It's not like those (results) matter that much. I'm just going to push hard on my race on Wednesday. I know where my skiing can be. This season, I've had a lot of ups and downs in other races and results but still been able to put together really fast runs in giant slalom.

Even his comments hint that the giant slalom is Ligety's best shot at Olympic gold, and he'll be the No. 1 favorite despite his aforementioned struggles in Sochi. If he comes up short yet again, Ligety will have trouble living that down, even with an otherwise impressive legacy.

The 29-year-old veteran has one Olympic gold from 2006 to his credit, so he's shown the capability to get it done in the past. Now he must rise to the occasion, and if Ligety skis as he has at times this past season, he will at least be a medalist.

Women's Slalom: Mikaela Shiffrin

Considering the circumstances and the caliber of competition Shiffrin was up against in Tuesday's giant slalom, she fared extremely well, placing fifth in her Olympic debut.

Shiffrin has won seven World Cup races and was undaunted in her first race of the Sochi Games despite poor conditions—heavy rain and the resultant difficult snow to navigate. The 18-year-old phenom now has some positivity to build on heading into her second event.

The NBC Olympics' official Twitter account gave a nice rundown of all the milestones Shiffrin has reached in her young career:

As ESPN's Wayne Drehs alludes to in his report of Shiffrin's first event, she is the defending world champion in the women's slalom and has an even better chance at seizing a medal—and perhaps even winning.

Gold isn't out of the question, and her failure to reach the podium on Tuesday should only fuel the fire for Shiffrin as she prepares for her true competition of expertise. Not winning a medal in her debut actually may have been a blessing in disguise, too.

"This sets her up better," said her father Jeff Shiffrin, per Drehs. "There are no distractions."

There may have been an inevitable letdown for someone so young and talented as Shiffrin if she had the satisfaction of a medal in tow.

Now Shiffrin has plenty to prove in an event where more is expected from her. Shiffrin seemed prepared well enough even in adverse conditions in her first taste of the Olympic stage, and now she is poised to at least crack the top three on Friday.

Men's Slalom: David Chodounsky

This is the least likely candidate for gold, but perhaps prior success from Ligety and Shiffrin will inspire Chodounsky to do unexpectedly well.

Chodounsky finished eighth in a recent World Cup event in Adelboden, Switzerland, and no other Americans placed in the top 20. Those results provide a glimpse into the long odds the USA is facing in the men's slalom, just to be realistic.

But after that race, at least the 29-year-old Chodounsky was confident in his ability to start competing more often for the podium—even if that is a little ambitious for a goal in Sochi.

"Anytime you get points, it’s a good day,"  said Chodounsky, per the Idaho Mountain Express' Jeff Cordes. "I feel I’m ready to consistently be challenging for the podium. It was tough and it was fast on the steepest pitch on the tour."

Austria's Marcel Hirscher is the world champion in the men's slalom and should be favored to win along with Felix Neureuther of Germany, who has made it to the podium 21 times in World Cup competition. That's the type of disparity Chodounsky is dealing with.

Anything can happen in the Winter Olympics, though, and Chodounsky is still striving to improve and is on the uptick as he prepares to go out and shock the world with his best effort to steal a medal from his favored peers.