My son who raced in college and who has taught racers including my grandson believes that she is actually too good in that she hardly ever falls and so she never has to do "recover training". Yes-there really is that. He also was critical of her not finishing the race-unless she thought she had straddled the gate-which she had not. He said she is so good she could have side slipped up and around the gate and -given how good she is-have made the top 30. Then she could have gone all out on the second run and made the podium. Maybe she was in shock as to what happened and didn't want to finish.
Personally, I think athletes-no matter what sport-that are elite like Shiffren are always on the "edge" and failure is simply inconceivable. So when it does happen they just can't accept it compared to others who have experienced failures and learned how to deal with them. She just never had to go through this since learning how to ski. I can understand her sitting there with her emotions. She wasn't in the course and was far off to the side near the officials so there was no danger of her being hit.
Bottom line: even after the fall she still had a chance to medal if not win. She didn't "choose" not to. She just couldn't. What a shame.
