Day 5 of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics

American ski star Mikaela Shiffrin said she's feeling "pretty awful" after tumbling out of the first run of the women's slalom.

"I was pushing out of the start. I had full intentions of skiing as hard as I could," she said, following the run.

"I slipped up a little bit on one turn and I just didn't give myself room to make any kind of error like that. I was planning to go on the most aggressive line, the most challenging line to ski."

Shiffrin said she knew that line was also the fastest: "I didn't make it past five gates, so I guess that's what happened," she added.

The two-time Olympic medalist said she is feeling "pretty awful."

The two races Shiffrin skied out on — the giant slalom on Monday and the slalom today — are by far her favorite. They are known as “technical” races and were her best chances at a medal.

The 26-year-old — who was hoping to become the first US skier to win three medals at a single Games — is also scheduled for the upcoming speed races, the downhill and super-G.

Thousands of staff, volunteers, journalists and other Olympics personnel are confined to a "closed loop" system in Beijing, designed to prevent Covid-19 from spreading at the Games.

Inside the bubble, the Covid restrictions can sometimes seem a touch overzealous.

On Monday, our taxi driver prevented us from winding down the car window to take a photo while approaching the big air venue, saying we were "breaking the bubble."

And at one of the closed loop hotels, Covid restrictions have even reached diner's plates.

Anyone ordering steak for lunch after a cold day out at the snow events was told by staff the only way they can cook the meat is well done — due to Covid concerns.

It's unclear what the exact logic behind the charred beef is, but the jerky-like texture is a chewy reminder of how nearly every aspect of life within the bubble is adjusted for Covid risks — whether perceived or genuine.

Defending champion Mikaela Shiffrin skied out of the women's slalom course early, another shock for the American who crashed out of the giant slalom on Monday.

She was favored to win the slalom event, but instead missed a gate early in the first run and was seen sitting on the sidelines of the course with her head in her hands.

The US Ski and Snowboard team said on Twitter she, "is ok, but disappointed."

After many of the medal events at the Beijing Winter Olympics, the top three athletes will stand on the podium and receive a miniature replica of Beijing 2022's Bing Dwen Dwen mascot.

But what about the medals?

It's been a tradition at the Winter Games to award the medals in a separate ceremony, called the victory ceremony.

The medals are then presented in these ceremonies that are held much later after the events have finished.

According to the Olympics website, this has been the case at the Winter Olympics since Nagano 1998.

In Beijing, China has built two medal plazas — one near the Bird's Nest National Stadium and one in Zhangjiakou, where many of the snow events are held.

Some events, like the bobsleigh, skeleton, luge and curling, have the medals presented at the venue.

US skier Mikaela Shiffrin has had her hopes dashed again after crashing out of the highly-anticipated women’s slalom and posting a Did Not Finish.

The Olympic gold medalist and three-time overall World Cup champion was hoping to rebound from a similar upset in the giant slalom.

Shiffrin, favored to win the slalom, missed the podium in this event at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games after winning gold in Sochi in 2014.

Winter Olympians are accustomed to performing their awe-inspiring feats against the backdrop of spectacular snow-capped mountains.

But Beijing's Big Air Shougang Olympic venue is drawing attention for its much edgier, urban setting.

Behind the skiers launching themselves off the 60-meter-high (196-foot) ramp are furnaces, tall chimney stacks and cooling towers on the site of a former steel mill that for decades contributed to the Chinese capital's notoriously polluted skies.

The mill, founded in 1919, ceased operations more than 15 years ago, as part of efforts to clear the air in the capital ahead of the 2008 Summer Olympics.

That left a large stretch of prime city center land, ripe for rehabilitation and regeneration, says engineering and design company ARUP, which transformed the site into a bustling hub for tourism and art exhibitions.

The rusty, aging remnants of the mill were never demolished — not even for the big air jump at the 2022 Winter Olympics.

Instead, the old mill has been incorporated into Big Air Shougang's design. One of the cooling towers even bears the logo for the Games.

The jump has captured the attention of social media users, in part for the mountains of fake snow generated to host the event, but also intrigue of what these towers are and why they're still standing, right behind the jump.

Some Twitter users wondered if it might be a nuclear plant.

The Shougang Big Air is the world's first permanent big air venue for long-term usage. It sits on the bank of the Qunming Lake, on the west side of the cooling towers at 88 meters (288 feet) above sea level, according to architecture firm TeamMinus, which designed the jump.

Read the full story here.

This post has been updated to reflect the events that take place in Shougang.

More athletes will be aiming for gold on Day 5 of the Beijing Winter Olympics, with medal events in women's slalom, men's freeski big air, luge, speedskating, Nordic combined and speed skating.

Here's some key moments to look out for:

Podium contenders:

As Day 5 of the Beijing Games begins, here's a look at the medal standings, according to the official tally.

The Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) has the won most medals overall, with 10 in total.

And the USA ended Day 4 yet to win a gold through 31 of 109 total medal events. It has never taken this long (by events) for the US to win its first gold at a Winter Olympics.  

Despite her crash in the giant slalom on Monday, Mikaela Shiffrin will still have her eye on a piece of American Winter Olympics history when she takes to the slopes again on Wednesday.

With the 26-year-old set to compete in all five individual skiing events, Shiffrin will be hoping to become the first US skier to win three medals at a single Games.

Though she is widely considered the most dominant skier of her generation — and will go down as one of the greatest ever when she eventually retires — even securing one medal is by no means a certainty, given the quality of her opposition.

Shiffrin will be among the gold medal contenders in the combined — an event she won silver in four years ago in Pyeongchang and also won at last year's World Championships — although Monday's DNF in the giant slalom is proof that nothing is a given in alpine skiing.

The Colorado native also created an interesting pre-Olympic wrinkle in the lead up to Beijing, beating heavy favorite Petra Vlhova in the slalom in Schladming, Austria.

It was a record-breaking 47th World Cup slalom win for Shiffrin, who became the skier with the most victories in a single World Cup discipline, breaking Swedish legend Ingemar Stenmark's previous record of 46 giant slalom wins.

The win was certainly something of a shock, as Vlhova had dominated the slalom this season with five wins and two runner-up finishes.

The rescheduling of three of the five events in Pyeongchang due to high winds forced Shiffrin to pull out of super-G and downhill and the compacted schedule impacted her preparation for the slalom, leading her to fall agonizingly short of a medal in fourth place.

However, external factors permitting in Beijing, Shiffrin should have a legitimate shot at claiming a trio of medals.

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