Mikaela Shiffrin competes in the combined, her last event in Beijing.

If ever there was a medal ripe for the taking, this is it.

Mikaela Shiffrin is one of just 25 other skiers in the combined event field and one of just a handful of skiers who have the skills to compete for the podium in an event that includes runs of both downhill and slalom.

The strategy for Shiffrin on another crisp, clear day at the Yanqing National Alpine Center is just as it always is in combined: survive the downhill with an adequate run, then produce a top-class slalom to surge into the lead.

In 2018, Shiffrin was in sixth place after the downhill, 1.21 seconds behind the eventual winner, Michelle Gisin of Switzerland. Shiffrin took the silver after a strong slalom showing, and Wendy Holdener of Switzerland took the bronze.

Gisin and Holdener are both racing today, but Shiffrin is currently the second-best slalom racer in the world, behind only Petra Vlhova of Slovakia. Vlhova, the gold medalist in the slalom last week, opted not to race in the combined.

There are just three other skiers in the field who are in the top 15 in the World Cup rankings in slalom: Gisin, Holdener and Katharina Huber of Austria.

Shiffrin came to the Olympics favored to win medals in multiple events. But she was disqualified in the giant slalom and slalom races last week. She finished ninth in the super-G and 18th in the downhill.

Shiffrin’s stumbles in the opening races of the Beijing Olympics were unfathomable — failures, she later called them — but as she enters her final individual race at these Winter Games, a long Olympic journey is still ahead for her.