PYEONGCHANG, South Korea — At the 2014 Sochi Olympics, Mikaela Shiffrin won the slalom, but in her only other event, the giant slalom, she finished fifth.

Shiffrin, then 18 years old, was peeved.

“The next Olympics I go to,” she said at the time, “I’m sure as heck not getting fifth.”

On Thursday, after three days of races postponed by strong winds, Shiffrin’s celebrated quest for multiple gold medals at the Pyeongchang Olympics finally began. And she emphatically lived up to her prophecy with a stirring, authoritative, come-from-behind victory in the giant slalom.