BEIJING — Mikaela Shiffrin is hanging in there until the very end.
Shiffrin changed her departure from the Beijing Olympics after the team event was pushed back to Sunday because of high winds. She was originally supposed to leave early Sunday to return to Europe for the rest of the World Cup season, but U.S. Ski Team spokeswoman Megan Harrod said Saturday that the United States still planned to do the team event and Shiffrin would be part of it.
The rest of the U.S. squad – A.J. Hurt, Paula Moltzan, River Radamus, Tommy Ford and Luke Winters – is also staying.   
Shiffrin had said repeatedly that she wanted to do the team event, a head-to-head, single-bracket elimination competition featuring 15 teams. The Americans ski against Slovakia in the opening round, and would face Italy or Russia if they advance.
The team event will be a chance for Shiffrin to end what has been a disappointing Beijing Olympics on a positive note. Expected to contend for multiple medals here, the two-time Olympic champion did not win any in her individual events.
She recorded Did Not Finishes in the giant slalom, slalom and Alpine combined, her best events. She finished ninth in the super-G and was 18th in the downhill.
“I have literally no idea why we keep coming back and doing it, especially after today,” Shiffrin said Thursday after the combined. “But I’m going to come back out and ski some parallel GS because I’m that much of an idiot. I don’t know why we keep doing it, but making good turns feels amazing.”
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The start of the team event was moved up an hour Saturday in anticipation of high winds, only to be delayed twice because of gusts so strong the gondolas briefly stopped running. The forecast for Sunday calls for more wind, though there does appear to be a window mid-morning when the team event could be completed.
No event at the Winter Olympics has been canceled since 1928, Olympic historian Bill Mallon said. The 10,000 meters in men’s speedskating at those Games was halted because the ice was melting, and Mallon said it never resumed.

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