Carrying the weight of the world’s expectations on her shoulders, Mikaela Shiffrin won gold in the women’s slalom on Wednesday in Cortina. The Olympic champion posted a combined time of 1:39.10.
It was the 30-year-old’s first Olympic medal since 2018 and the fourth of her career. She now stands alone as the only American in Alpine skiing history to hold three Olympic gold medals, breaking a record she previously held with Ted Ligety and Andrea Mead Lawrence.
"This is a feels like a really big moment," an emotional Shiffrin told NBC's Cara Banks after the race. "Honestly, the skiing is what I cared about. Of course a medal and gold, that's a dream come true. But at some point this week, I just said, like, stop dreaming. Just ski.
"This whole time, [I've been] waiting for two times, 45 seconds today to be able to ski. And I'm so happy to be able to do the right thing in the right moment."
Her margin of victory, 1.50 seconds, was the largest in any Olympic Alpine skiing event since 1998.
Camille Rast of Switzerland snagged silver (+1.50) on Wednesday, the first medal of her blossoming career.
Sweden's Anna Swenn Larsson secured bronze (+1.71), becoming the oldest medalist ever in the Olympic slalom (34).
The path to gold for Shiffrin began the moment her 2022 Beijing Olympics concluded. She was a strong favorite to come away with a medal in multiple events at those Games, including the slalom, but shockingly did not finish (DNF’d). She followed up the race with two more DNFs in the giant slalom and the now defunct Alpine combined.
At the time, Shiffrin told NBC Sports “I feel like a joke.” To this day, she’s said she’s still trying to understand what exactly went wrong in the string of disappointing performances.
Still, she bounced back and continued to dominate the World Cup circuit (the highest level of Alpine skiing competition), winning the slalom, giant slalom and overall Crystal Globes — which recognize the best Alpine skiers in a season — in 2023.
Shiffrin missed the bulk of the 2024-25 campaign due to a scary puncture wound injury she sustained from a crash in Killington, Vermont, which also resulted in post traumatic stress disorder. She managed to return a couple of months later to scoop up her 100th World Cup victory, a milestone that no other athlete in the sport’s history has reached.
The Edwards, Colorado, native went gangbusters (even for her standards) flying out of the 2025-26 season starting gate and hasn't looked back since. In eight slalom races, she won seven of them. The race she didn't win? She was the runner-up just behind Olympic silver medalist Rast. Already, Shiffrin has clinched her 9th slalom Crystal Globe.
Despite her unparalleled output, critics remained laser-focused on her Olympic struggles. They questioned if she could win the big one again, and Shiffrin herself revealed the mental toll the pressure took on her. She revealed she had "nightmares" thinking about racing in Cortina during the Games.
A poor showing at the team combined and a solid (yet, medal-less) display in the giant slalom felt like the bad dreams might be turning to reality.
This is a moment I've been pretty scared of for a long time.
On Wednesday, Shiffrin put those nightmares to bed.
"Every new experience in life is an experience that [my dad] is not here to see," she said, "not in person, at least."
Jeff Shiffrin, Mikaela's father, died unexpectedly after suffering a severe head injury from a fall in early 2020.
His daughter is an Olympic champion once again. And really, she left no doubt from the moment she exited the starting gate on Wednesday.
Shiffrin leapt out to a prodigious 0.82-second advantage (47.13) after Run 1, the largest margin in an Olympic women's slalom since 1960. Still, the run wasn't without its fair share of drama.
Midway through her traverse of the Tofane, it appeared that Shiffrin missed a gate, shades of Beijing. She froze, seemingly confused about which direction to carve next. Still, she remained on her line and in an instant, regained momentum.
That section wound up proving tricky for many of the competitors, and you could see Shiffrin, while in the leader's chair, explain her bewilderment. "What did I just do?" she mouthed to her camp, an air of relief palpable. "What was that?"
Turns out, that was the defining moment of her gold medal-worthy Run 1.
Because she posted the fastest time, Shiffrin was the last racer to start Run 2. Several athletes sat on the leader's chair, but when it was Shiffrin's turn, it was her race for the taking. And she took it.
American Paula Moltzan, who finished 8th, threw down the quickest Run 2 of anyone, but her stumble in the first diminished her podium chances a little too much. Fortunately, she leaves Cortina with a bronze medal from the team combined.
AJ Hurt (USA) wound up finishing 19th, an impressive showing for the Truckee, California, native.
Nina O'Brien, the fourth and final American competing in Wednesday's slalom, DNF'd (did not finish) in Run 1.
Alpine skiing at the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Games is now officially over. However, you can watch replays of any of the events you may have missed on NBCOlympics.com.