Mikaela Shiffrin takes silver in Alpine combined while Lindsey Vonn fails to medal

PYEONGCHANG, South Korea -- Mikaela Shiffrin managed to overcome a morning deficit but Lindsey Vonn could not overcome her lack of preparation in the women's Alpine combined on Thursday, the final individual women's event at the 2018 Winter Olympics.

Shiffrin took the silver medal with a strong run in her specialty of the afternoon slalom while Vonn, the day's final competitor, skied off the course not even halfway through her race. 

For Shiffrin, 22, it is her second medal here to go with gold in the giant slalom. It is her third Olympic medal overall. She won the slalom in Sochi in 2014.

Vonn, 33, more than likely ends her Olympic career with a bronze yesterday in the downhill.  She also has three total medals.

 A downhill specialist,  Vonn led after the morning run of the downhill with a time of 1:41.79. But she said afterward she had basically zero preparation this season for the slalom.

Shiffrin, who leads the World Cup slalom rankings, trailed Vonn by two seconds and stood in sixth place. She said between sessions that would be tough to overcome. She was wrong. Her slalom time of  40.76 was enough to lift her into the lead with a total time of 2:21.07.

Four skiers later, Switzerland's Michelle Gisin finished in 2:20.90 to pass Shiffrin with two skiers remaining.

The next skier posted a slower time, guaranteeing Shiffrin a medal. It was down to Vonn, who had a chance to give the USA two medalists. But she did not get very far.

Gisin won gold while Wendy Holdener, also of Switzerland, took bronze.