Mikaela Shiffrin Wins Olympic Gold in Women's Slalom

Ending an eight-year Olympic cold snap, Mikaela Shiffrin put in a dominant performance on Wednesday by winning a gold medal in the women’s slalom. Shiffrin, 30, arguably the greatest Alpine skier of all time, claimed her first Olympic medal of the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Games and her first Olympic medal since winning a silver in the combined race at the 2018 Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

After coming up short in her first two events, Shiffrin dominated the slalom pack with a combined time of 1:39:10 — a full 1.5 seconds faster than her nearest competitor, Switzerland’s Camille Rast, who won the silver. Anna Swenn-Larsson of Sweden took the bronze.

This is Shiffrin’s second gold medal in the Olympic slalom and her third overall, making her the only American in Alpine skiing history to win three Olympic golds. Born in Vail, Colo., the skiing standout honed her skills at Vermont’s Burke Mountain Academy.

“This feels like a really big moment,” 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.“