Mikaela Shiffrin’s 2026 Olympics tighten to one last shot at a medal
Mikaela Shiffrin’s Olympic week in Cortina d’Ampezzo took another frustrating turn Sunday, Feb. 15, when she finished 11th in the women’s giant slalom after sitting seventh following the first run. With the alpine schedule nearing its end, the result leaves the most decorated skier on the World Cup circuit with one remaining chance to add to her Olympic medal total: women’s slalom on Wednesday, Feb. 18 (ET).
Giant slalom slips away on second run
Shiffrin entered giant slalom carrying a complicated mix of history and expectation. It’s an event she has won at the Olympics before, yet it also delivered one of her most painful moments in 2022 when she did not finish the opening run.
On Sunday, she looked positioned for a realistic push toward the podium after run one, but her second run did not produce the time she needed as the leaders held their lines and managed risk across an increasingly decisive course. The final standings left her outside the top 10 and still searching for her first Olympic medal since 2018.
What her Olympic results look like so far
With only a few starts on her Milan-Cortina program, each day has carried extra weight. The team combined produced a near miss, and the giant slalom was another step short.
| Event | Date (ET) | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Women’s team combined (with Breezy Johnson) | Feb. 10 | 4th |
| Women’s giant slalom | Feb. 15 | 11th |
| Women’s slalom | Feb. 18 | Upcoming |
The slalom stage: her best path, her toughest pressure
If there is an event that typically fits Shiffrin’s strengths, it’s slalom—precision, rhythm, and relentless consistency. This season, she has been the sport’s defining benchmark in the discipline again, stacking wins and making clear that her “A” level is still enough to separate from the field.
That’s what makes Wednesday so compelling: it is both the most natural opportunity and the most intense spotlight. Olympic slalom often turns on tiny margins—an early delay on the hairpin, a late-line choice that costs glide, or a brief loss of pressure that forces a recovery move. In two-run racing, one small error can erase an otherwise medal-worthy day.
Scheduled start times (ET): first run at 4:00 a.m., second run at 7:30 a.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 18.
A comeback shaped by a “freak” injury
Shiffrin’s season and Olympic build-up have also been framed by recovery. She returned to full competition after a serious abdominal injury suffered in a late-2024 crash in Vermont, an incident described by people around her as unusually severe for a ski-racing fall. Her ability to line up for Olympic starts in technical events—where athletes absorb heavy, repeated impacts—has been its own achievement.
That context doesn’t change the scoreboard, but it does help explain the thin line she’s been walking: chasing peak sharpness while protecting the confidence and physical freedom that slalom and giant slalom demand.
Why the Olympic drought story won’t disappear
Shiffrin’s résumé is already historically rare: she owns the sport’s career World Cup win record and has built a reputation for unmatched technical excellence across more than a decade at the top. At the Olympics, though, her story has never been a straight climb. The format is unforgiving—one day, one course, one set of snow and visibility conditions, and no “next weekend” to smooth out variance.
That disconnect between season-long dominance and Olympic outcomes is why every non-medal finish becomes a headline. The longer the gap since her last Olympic podium, the more each run is interpreted as a referendum—on form, tactics, confidence, even luck—rather than simply a single result on a single morning.
What to watch on Feb. 18
Wednesday’s slalom will likely hinge on two things:
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Run-one platform: A top-three to top-five first run gives room to attack while still skiing within her timing.
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Second-run risk control: Olympic slalom medals often go to the skier who pushes hardest without crossing the line into a straddle, a late gate, or the kind of recovery that bleeds speed on the flats.
If she finds her cleanest tempo early, Shiffrin can put herself in position to change the narrative in a single race. If not, the 2026 Games will close with an unusual footnote for one of the sport’s most consistent winners: a fortnight defined more by near misses than medals.
