The American skiing great won her fourth career Olympic medal in the Tofane women’s slalom and her first Olympic medal since 2018.
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Published February 18, 2026
Mikaela Shiffrin won gold in the Olympic slalom on Wednesday, ending an eight-year Winter Olympics medal drought and bringing some consolation to the U.S. Ski Team.
Shiffrin won her third Olympic title of her career and her first gold medal since the giant slalom at the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics with a fast total time of 1:39.10.
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The 30-year-old already had a lead of 0.82 seconds after her first run, which she said “went well” in great conditions, and that handy cushion helped her cruise to victory.
She finished a whopping 1.50 seconds behind world champion Camille Last, who won the Swiss Women’s Ski Team’s first medal of the competition.
Sweden’s Anna Swen Larsson rounded out the podium and won her first career Olympic medal.
Shiffrin banished memories of both the previous Olympics in Beijing (where she didn’t medal in any of the six races and didn’t finish three races) and her disappointing performances in the team combined and giant slalom in northern Italy.
She comes to Cortina as the favorite to win at least one gold medal after her sensational performance this season, extending her record for all-time World Cup wins to 108.
Shiffrin, who has already won the World Cup slalom title after leading seven races this season, missed out on victory at Kranjska Gora, finishing just 0.14 seconds behind last.
For both Shiffrin and the U.S. Ski Team, the gold medal was a happy ending to a difficult Olympics. The match was dominated by Lindsey Vonn’s horror crash and broken leg in the opening downhill race in Cortina.
Shiffrin’s victory was her second Olympic gold medal in slalom, and the first in 12 years since she became the youngest winner of that Olympic event at the Sochi Games.
