The International Olympic Committee (IOC) saved Mikaela Shiffrin’s best event for last when they created the schedule for the 2026 Winter Olympics.
Regardless of if it was the result of an intentional competition Tetris-ing act or merely a happy coincidence, all eyes will be on Shiffrin.
Can the most decorated World Cup skier of all time earn her first Olympic medal of the Milan Cortina Games, which would also be her first since 2018?
She’ll have the opportunity to do just that in the women’s slalom on Wednesday, Feb. 18, the final Alpine skiing discipline to be contested in Cortina.
The action will stream live on Peacock and NBCOlympics.com, with Run 1 kicking off at 4 a.m. ET, followed by Run 2 at 7:30 a.m. ET. Here’s what you need to know.
The Queen of Slalom
It’s difficult to overstate Shiffrin’s long-standing dominance in slalom.
On the Winter Olympic stage, she first made noise during the 2014 Sochi Games, when she became the youngest skier, man or woman, to win gold in slalom at age 18.
The Edwards, Colorado native separated herself from the pack on the World Cup circuit (the highest level of Alpine skiing competition). Her 71 slalom Cup victories are the most ever, almost double the number of the next skier on the list (40 for the great Ingemar Stenmark).
Actually, if you took just her slalom wins into account — and discarded the remaining 37 that she’s collected in other events — she would have the third most Cup wins of all time.
On a less macro level, Shiffrin’s been on an absolute heater as of late. In eight slalom races during the 2025-26 Cup season, she’s won seven of them (and finished runner-up in the eighth), and dating back to January of 2024, 15 out of 18. Additionally, she’s already clinched her ninth Crystal Globe, which recognizes the strongest skier in a given discipline.
The Queen of slalom is on a piste of her own, which is why expectations are as high as the Tofane peak for the 30-year-old.
Shiffrin's Olympic history
Shiffrin has three total Olympic medals to her name, two of which are gold.
As an 18-year-old, she won gold in the women’s slalom in Sochi, and four years later, claimed gold in the giant slalom and silver in the combined in PyeongChang.
If she adds a third gold to her collection, she’ll break a tie with Ted Ligety and Andrea Mead Lawrence for most Olympic gold medals in U.S. Alpine skiing history.
However, Shiffrin currently is in the midst of somewhat of a medal drought. In 2022, she entered Beijing as a top contender in the giant slalom and slalom, but surprisingly skied out in both, leading to multiple DNFs (did not finishes).
“[It] makes me second guess the last 15 years, everything I thought I knew about my own skiing and slalom and racing mentally," she told NBC at the time.
In last week’s team combined, Shiffrin’s partner Breezy Johnson posted the fastest downhill time, putting the duo in prime position to reach the podium. Shiffrin couldn’t quite find her groove in the slalom leg, recording the 15th (out of 18) quickest time. The tandem settled for fourth.
In the Cortina giant slalom, Shiffrin threw down a pair of solid runs, but finished 11th in one of the more competitive Alpine skiing fields. She was only three-tenths of a second off the podium.
The line between Olympic glory and disappointment is razor thin, and one has the feeling Shiffrin is due for a hardware-worthy result.
Captain Mikaela
Not all Olympic heroes wear capes. Or claim medals.
Shiffrin’s team combined and giant slalom performances didn't translate to hardware, but she’s continued to shine even in defeat.
Her heartfelt speech to Paula Moltzan and Jackie Wiles after they secured bronze in the team combined (knocking Shiffrin and Johnson off the podium in the process) spoke volumes to Shiffrin’s role as a leader in the U.S. Ski team “locker room.”
“I believe that you both earned this with your heart and your soul,” she told Moltzan and Wiles after the race. “It’s not just something that you put into this day, but something you've put into the last four years and the last eight years and the last 30 years.
“I wish so much Breezy that you could have a second medal for the run that you put out on that downhill today, but I couldn't even imagine a better way for this to go for Paula to start this Olympics and for you Jackie to just come back and get this.”
Throughout the Games, Shiffrin also has posted to social media celebrating her skiing compatriots, like Johnson when she won downhill gold, Federica Brignone when she captured gold in the giant slalom and Ilia Malinin when he shockingly fell twice during the men's free skate.
If the 2026 Winter Olympics have taught us anything about Shiffrin, it’s that win or lose, she won’t dim the light of others. She’ll help them shine brighter.
The slalom field
For the first time at the 2026 Winter Olympics, Shiffrin heads into an event as the gold-medal favorite. Still, she’ll face steep competition in the slalom.
With the absence of Swiss superstar Lara Gut-Behrami, Camille Rast has stepped up for the nation in a major way. She’s been a breakout star this World Cup season, having won two events and finished as the runner-up in five more. The feather in her cap was defeating Shiffrin outright, handing the icon her one slalom loss.
Lara Colturi, the daughter of super-G gold medalist Daniela Ceccarelli, started the 2025-26 Cup campaign strong, collecting two runners-up and three podiums in her first five races. Her results have slipped a bit as of late, but she’s proven to be dangerous whenever she’s at the top of her game.
There’s also Shiffrin’s U.S. Ski teammate Moltzan, who’s found peak form with four Cup podium finishes this season, and most recently, a bronze medal in the team combined. Improved consistency has elevated Moltzan’s skiing across the technical events (giant slalom and slalom).
Wendy Holdener, Katharina Truppe and Emma Aicher are equally formidable challengers, as well. Petra Vlhova, widely considered Shiffrin's greatest slalom rival (and 2022 Olympic slalom gold medalist), returned from a nearly two-year absence due to injury to race in the women's team combined in Cortina. If she can shake off the rust in time for Wednesday, she too could pose a threat.
“Really, I think the biggest threat to Mikaela is herself, honestly,” NBC analyst Ligety said before the Games. “Being so successful in the World Cup, she has all those added expectations. Mikaela’s gonna be tough to beat, though.”
Competition format
The Olympic slalom will feature 95 total racers represented by 57 different countries.
The United States has four athletes slated to start, including Shiffrin, Moltzan, Nina O’Brien and AJ Hurt.
The race will be split into two different runs (Run 1 and Run 2) with the world’s top seven ranked skiers being randomly drawn to start 1-7 in the order. The order of athletes ranked 8th through 15th in the field will be selected randomly in the same way. The remaining competitors will start in order of FIS (International Ski and Snowboard Federation) ranking.
The skiers who register the 30-fastest times move onto Run 2, where they’ll leave the starting gate in descending order from “slowest” to “fastest.” The athlete that posts the lowest combined time is the winner.
Catch Run 1 of the women’s Alpine skiing slalom event live on Wednesday at 4 a.m. ET on Peacock and NBCOlympics.com, followed by Run 2.