By Simon Jennings

YANQING. China (Reuters). Defending Olympic champion Mikaela Shiffrin lost the women’s giant slalom after she failed to complete her run on the Winter Games. Swede Sara Hector won the top spot, having conquered the ‘Ice River” course on a Monday at Yanqing Alpine Centre.

American Shiffrin was seventh and did not sustain any injuries as her skis went under her when she attempted to make the turns. Then she got on to her skis again and began slowly moving down the remainder of the course.

Hector is the World Cup leader in giant slalom. His time was 57.56 seconds. This puts him 0.30 ahead Austria’s Katharina Trupe and 0.42 quicker than Federica Brignone, third.

Slovenian Metahrovat came fourth with Ragnhild Molinckel, Pyeongchang silver-medalist from Norway coming fifth.

The second run will begin at 1430 GMT.

Shiffrin (26 years old) said that her run was “huge disappointment.”

I was pushing. “I felt I was pushing myself in those turns,” she said. It’s difficult to predict how the race would go the remainder of the course… it was over before the day even began.

Shiffrin intends to race in each of the five events for women at the Games, and she will be racing in her favourite discipline on Wednesday, the slalom.

“This is not a time to get down and weep, it’s just waste of energy,” she said. “My best chance to win the next races, is to continue moving forward. To refocus. And I feel I’m well placed to do this.

As you can see, anything is possible and happens very quickly. It’s amazing, but it is not guaranteed.

Italian Brignone stated that she is enjoying the climate.

She added, “I like the slope. It is great for Olympics.”

Shiffrin crashed out of the first ski run, just after Marta Bassino (Italian fifth-place finisher) was eliminated.

Bassino appeared to be unhurt after her skis fell out from underneath her at the second gate. She was then sent into a slow slide down mountain.

Maria Therese Tviberg, Norway’s Maria Therese Tviberg said that it was “for sure sad” that Shiffrin will be competing in the Olympic Games. “But it’s our sport, that’s also alpine ski. She was determined to do her best. Mistakes happen.”

There were 19 finishers who failed their first race. Esma Allic from Bosnia and Hanna Zieba from Poland also didn’t start. No reports were made of serious injuries.

Hilma Loevblom, from Sweden said that it was a “really nice slope”. It’s just the Olympics, and it has many other elements. There can be lots of pressure, everyone is likely to feel stressed. Coaches are also probably feeling it. It’s all just different.