BEIJING, China — The on-track portion of what Mikaela Shiffrin hopes will be a Beijing Olympics “reset” — moving on from early mistakes that knocked her out of two races — began under cloudless skies​​ with a pair of trips about half an hour apart up the competition hill in an official Thursday practice for the upcoming super-G.

Wearing a brown racing helmet, bright red reflective goggles and a white racing suit with “USA” across the front in blue capital letters, the two-time Olympic gold medalist crossed the finish line each time, standing rather than in a speed preserving reenter. After the first, she stopped briefly to chat with two other runners. After the second, she quickly passed a gathering of a dozen people and was on her way.

All of this was clear to everyone present. Less sure on the spot: How Shiffrin copes with his off-track attempt to overcome these sudden and surprising exits in his best disciplines.

What became known via the USA Ski Team a few hours later, however, is that Shiffrin will indeed race the super-G on Friday as the women move from technical to speed events. It will be his third start of what could still be a six-race trip to China.

“It’s hard to accept what happened, but she has to get through it. And one of the best ways to do that is to keep looking to the future. She competes in multiple competitions here which is great for her,” said USA women’s head coach Paul Kristofic. “You have to look at what’s in front of you and try to put what’s behind you to rest, no matter how hard that is.”

Kristofic said Thursday’s practice “went well”.

Shiffrin, 26, from Colorado, has never competed in a super-G at the Olympics, but she won it at the 2019 world championships.

“Being outside and changing events and doing something different – it’s a different impulse, of course, in terms of speed, and it’s a good feeling to be here and to push well and to ski well,” said Kristofic. “It’s part of the process of getting out of it.”

Shiffrin’s boyfriend, Norwegian skier Aleskander Aamodt Kilde, described her as “in good condition; she is fine.”

“She’s a hero and she can handle that. She handles pressure like no one else, and that’s something she’ll come out of,” said Kilde, who won a silver medal on Thursday in the alpine combined. “But it’s been a tough few days.”

A U.S. Ski Team spokeswoman said Thursday that Shiffrin and her mother, Eileen, who is also a coach, will “not be doing any media for the foreseeable future.”

Shiffrin spoke to reporters at length on Wednesday, when her first slalom stage (which she won at the 2014 Olympics) ended after about five seconds, about half the length of his first giant slalom stage (which she won at the 2018 Olympics) lasted Monday.

“I’ll try to reset again, and maybe try to reset better this time,” Shiffrin said after the slalom.

“But I don’t know how to do better either because,” she continued, then paused before adding, “because I just don’t know.”

What success on skis came so quickly, and seemingly so easily, for Shiffrin.

On a World Cup podium at 16. World Champion at 17. Olympic gold medalist at 18. And the rewards have been linked for the American, who is now 26 years old: a second gold medal at the Winter Games, doubled by a silver. Six world championships in all. Three overall World Cup titles. A total of 47 World Cup slalom victories, more than any other athlete in any event, ever.

That’s why her debut in China is so difficult for everyone to understand, including her.

“It’s strange to see. But that also makes her human. It makes her more like all of us – because sometimes you wonder if she really is. She is so precise, so mentally strong, that you wonder if what she is doing is even possible,” said Italian Federica Brignone, who won a silver medal in the giant slalom this week and a bronze. behind Shiffrin in this race four years ago. “She is an athlete who has won so much, but maybe she was too stressed.”

As the Beijing Olympics approach, Shiffrin spoke about the pressure and the expectations she was all too aware of it – from within, from fans, coaches, friends and family.

Kristofic brought this up when asked to explain what could have gone wrong with Shiffrin’s skiing so far.

“Mikaela has her technical benchmarks, and obviously they work. In a big event like this, the pressure is something most of us can’t understand, especially when you’re a medal favorite or a gold medal favorite in multiple events. It’s the piece that’s hard for someone else, other than the person in it, to really understand,” he said. “That kind of pressure is not the easiest thing to deal with and it can manifest itself in physical ways.”

AP Sports Writer Andrew Dampf contributed to this report.