Mikaela Shiffrin eyes Olympic medal in final 2026 winter olympics alpine skiing event
All focus in Cortina will fall on Mikaela Shiffrin as the women’s slalom closes the alpine skiing program on Wednesday, Feb. 18. The two-run race starts with Run 1 at 4 a. m. ET and Run 2 at 7: 30 a. m. ET, giving the 30-year-old one last shot to add to her Olympic medal collection at these Games.
Formidable slalom résumé and recent form
Shiffrin’s résumé in slalom is unrivaled on the World Cup circuit. With 71 slalom World Cup victories, she sits well ahead of the field and has established herself as the benchmark in the technical discipline. Those wins form the bulk of a career haul that includes dozens of victories across other events as well.
This season she has been nearly unstoppable in slalom: seven wins and a second-place finish across eight races in the 2025-26 Cup season. Stretching back to January 2024, she has prevailed in 15 of 18 slalom starts, a run of dominance few in the sport have matched. That consistency has already earned her a ninth Crystal Globe in the discipline, underscoring how she has largely owned slalom heading into Cortina.
Olympic history, pressure and recent Games performance
On the Olympic stage Shiffrin is a three-time medalist, with two golds and a silver. She burst onto the Games scene as an 18-year-old with slalom gold in Sochi, then added giant slalom gold and combined silver in PyeongChang. Yet Olympic medal success has been intermittent: Beijing 2022 was a disappointment when she failed to finish in technical events after entering as a favorite.
At these Games she has shown flashes but not yet landed on the podium. In the team combined she paired with a downhill specialist who posted the fastest descent, but Shiffrin’s slalom leg left the duo off the medal stand. In the giant slalom she skied two solid runs but finished 11th, just three-tenths of a second shy of the podium in a tightly bunched field. That combination of elite form on the World Cup and a recent string of near-misses at the Games sets a high-stakes scene for Wednesday’s slalom.
What to watch in the Cortina slalom
Several storylines will shape the outcome. First is whether Shiffrin can translate her World Cup dominance into one clean, controlled pair of runs under Olympic pressure. Her technical lines, reaction to variable light on the course, and ability to manage aggression without forcing errors will be decisive.
Course setting and conditions at Cortina’s Tofane slope will also matter. The event being the final alpine discipline means course maintenance after earlier races, snow texture and any morning sun exposure could alter the surface between runs. In slalom, small margins matter: a fraction of a second or a single missed gate can swing medals dramatically.
Finally, legacy stakes are significant. A gold would be her third Olympic title and would move her into rare company within U. S. alpine skiing history. Even a podium finish would end a Games-long medal drought and add momentum as she continues to target World Cup and championship goals.
Whether Shiffrin can convert overwhelming season form into Olympic hardware will be decided in two runs early Wednesday morning. The sport will be watching closely as one of its most accomplished competitors attempts to finish the Cortina alpine program on the highest note.
