Yanqing, China, February 7, 2022: Malaysia’s Winter Olympics debutant Aruwin Salehhuddin can look back with pride – and a certain amount of disbelief – on her first event at the Yanqing National Alpine Skiing Centre on Monday.
The 17-year-old Alpine skier not only completed the two runs of the women’s giant slalom to place 38th overall, she also had the honour of finishing above the defending champion and two-time Olympic gold medallist Mikaela Shiffrin of the United States.
Shiffrin fell five turns into her first run, crashing out of the event in the blink of an eye.
Aruwin, on the other hand, clocked 1:06.13 to place 46th after the first run. Her second run was almost identical at 1:06.15 (38th) to give her a total time of 2:12.28 – 16.59 seconds off the winning time of Sweden’s Sara Hector.
A total of 48 racers completed the two runs, while 33 others on the list of registered entries, including Shiffrin, either did not finish, were disqualified or did not start.
Aruwin, who lives in Colorado Springs in the United States, is the daughter of Atlanta 1996 Olympian Ayob Salehhuddin, who represented Malaysia in canoe/kayak slalom. Ayob is Malaysia’s alpine ski team manager in the Winter Olympics, and Aruwin’s mother, Siti Alphiah Tunggal, has paid her own way to Beijing to support her daughter.
“The Olympic Council of Malaysia congratulates Aruwin Salehhuddin for her remarkable achievement at her first Olympic Winter Games,” the OCM said in a Facebook post.
“The OCM is very proud of her for being an Olympian officially.”