Mikaela Shiffrin: Two second deficit to Vonn may be too much to overcome

Mikaela Shiffrin did not have the most optimistic outlook after completing the first portion of the women’s combined event at the Winter Olympics on Thursday in South Korea.

Lindsey Vonn blew away most of the field with a time of 1:39.37 on the downhill portion of the combined. Shiffrin finished 1.98 seconds behind her, which placed her sixth in the standings.

Asked after her run in the downhill whether she thought she could make up the time in the slalom run, Shiffrin was not so sure.

“We’ll see. Two seconds on Lindsey (Vonn), I’m not sure how much I can make up,” Shiffrin told NBC’s Heather Cox. “But I’m in a good position to fight for it and to do my best slalom skiing and see where it ends up.”

Shiffrin’s best event is the slalom, while downhill is Vonn’s specialty, so she certainly will have a chance to make up some time. But like she said, two seconds will be a lot to make up.