Mikaela Shiffrin: five medals at same Olympics may be unachievable

American skiing superstar Mikaela Shiffrin says her dream of winning five gold medals in the same Winter Olympics may be impossible to achieve.

The 22-year-old said she was “over the moon” after winning two medals – one gold and one silver - at the 2018 Olympics in Pyeongchang.

Shiffrin looked strong when she won the giant slalom but was dethroned as Olympic champion a day later in her favorite event, the slalom, finishing fourth after bad weather resulted in a compacted schedule.

And now Shiffrin, one of the best skiers of her generation, doubts the feasibility of winning all five individual golds – a dream born after her breakthrough triumph as an 18-year-old in Sochi.

“I don’t know if that’s possible,” Shiffrin told CNN. “It’s a really difficult thing to do, that’s for sure.”

READ: Winter Olympics day 15 as it happened

READ: Best photos from day 15 at PyeongChang 2018

Mikaela Shiffrin won gold in the giant slalom and silver in combined in Pyeongchang.

‘Three medals at best’

Shiffrin, the overall World Cup leader and three-time slalom world champion, looked on track to win multiple golds with a commanding first triumph in the giant slalom in Pyeongchang.

After faltering in the slalom she rebounded to win silver in the combined event, but her form, confidence and the disruption caused by strong winds put paid to any record-breaking feats.

“Let’s say that everything here worked out perfectly, the schedule went off without a hitch, no wind, none of that, those kinds of factors, I think the most I could have walked away from this Olympics was three medals, not necessarily all gold,” Shiffrin said.

“I was not at the level, with either downhill or super-G, to be a real medal threat, even given my results this season and last season in speed events. It was nice to dream about, but it wasn’t there.

“So, to have two medals, for me, that’s a huge success, especially with the weather conditions.”

Croatia’s Janica Kostelic is the only woman to have won three skiing golds at a single Games, at Salt Lake City in 2002.

READ: The team behind Mikaela Shiffrin

The skiing program is one of the most hotly contested of any Winter Olympics, and PyeongChang 2018 is no different. US favorite Mikaela Shiffrin won silver in the alpine combined, taking her PyeongChang Olympic haul up to two, after claiming gold in the giant slalom.

Switzerland's Michelle Gisin took gold, making an Olympic double for her family after elder sister Dominique won the downhill in Sochi four years ago. Her fellow Swiss Wendy Holdener won bronze.

Marcel Hirscher, winner of two gold medals this games and arguably the greatest skier of his generation, was vying for a third Olympic title. But the Austrian lost control and crashed in the men's slalom, leaving the contest wide open.

Sweden's Andre Myhrer clinched gold in the slalom, becoming the oldest Olympic medalist in this event, aged 35 -- improving on his slalom bronze in Vancouver eight years ago.

Sofia Goggia, 25, became the first Italian to win the women's downhill, cementing a successful season in which she leads the World Cup downhill standings.

US skier superstar Lindsey Vonn was denied gold in her signature event at what will likely be her final Olympics, walking away with bronze. She had hoped to reclaim the title she won in Vancouver eight years ago, having missed the chance at Sochi 2014 due to injuries.

Austria's Marcel Hirscher won his second gold in the giant slalom on Sunday, finishing 1.27 seconds ahead of Norway's Henrik Kristoffersen -- the largest margin of victory in the competition since 1968.

Ester Ledecka, the 22-year-old Czech, is better known as a snowboarding world champion, not a super-G skier. The underdog stunned the world as she finished one-hundredth of a second ahead of defending champion Anna Veith.

A big upset in the women's slalom, where US favorite Mikaela Shiffrin, the defending champion, missed out on a medal a day after winning gold in the giant slalom.

Instead, Frida Hansdotter of Sweden claimed her first ever Olympic medal, becoming the third Swede to win slalom gold.

In the men's super-G, Austria's Matthias Mayer grabbed gold, breaking Norway's 16-year grip on the title. Mayer won downhill gold in Sochi. His father Helmut clinched silver in the inaugural Olympic super-G in Calgary in 1988.

Mikaela Shiffrin was set to be the standout star of the Games after she took her first gold, and the second of her career, in the giant slalom.

Norway's Ragnhild Mowinckel won giant slalom silver for her first Olympic medal, finishing 0.39 seconds behind Shiffrin.

Italy's Federica Brignone took bronze, becoming the first Italian woman in 16 years to win an alpine skiing medal.

Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway made history in the men's downhill on day six, becoming the oldest Olympic alpine skiing champion at the age of 35.

Svindal's gold was Norway's first ever Olympic downhill gold. His teammate Kjetil Jansrud took silver, finishing just 0.12 seconds adrift.

Swiss world champion Beat Feuz finished 0.18 seconds behind Svindal, taking bronze.

Austrian superstar Marcel Hirscher won his first Olympic gold in the alpine combined on day four. The 28-year-old has competed in three Winter Games but his previous best was a silver in Sochi.

France's Alexis Pinturault won his second Olympic medal, adding silver in the combined to the bronze he won in giant slalom in Sochi four years ago.

Another Frenchman Victor Muffat-Jeandet won bronze -- a pleasant surprise after recording the 29th fastest time in the opening downhill leg.

Russian Pavel Trikhichev suffers a fall after clipping a gate during the alpine combined downhill. He was the sole Olympic Athlete from Russia to compete in the event.

The best photos of alpine skiing at the Winter Olympics

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‘Mentally exhausting’

Dominant in slalom and vastly improved in the speed events of late, Shiffrin was a teenage ski prodigy who competed in her first World Cup at the age of 15.

She has now won has won 41 World Cup races from 128 starts, including five events in January.

But when the Pyeongchang winds blew the schedule off course, Shiffin found the process mentally exhausting.

“My giant slalom event was postponed and my slalom was postponed and then we went back to the GS,” she said.

“Basically, we were race ready to go five or six days in a row and then the slalom came that last day and it was just an incredible period of time,” she said.

“I was so tired for that slalom and…I have to be, like, energized to deal with the mental stress of competing and to hold back, to kind of choke it down…”

READ: Mikaela Shiffrin: training an Olympic champion

Shiffrin will be 26 when the Beijing Games begin in 2022 and said she will reassess her original dream.

“With four more years under my belt, I’ll have definitely a different perspective on how to manage the stress of the Olympics as well,” she said. “(So) we’ll see.”