Mikaela Shiffrin had her eyes on the prize, and she was able to capture gold ending her Olympic drought. On Feb. 18, Shiffrin won gold in the slalom, which was her first medal since winning silver in the combined at the 2018 Olympics. She had a 0-for-8 streak at the Winter Games, which also included DNFs in three events.
Shiffrin finished with a combined time of 1:39:10, 1.5 seconds ahead of Camille Rast of Switzerland, who took silver. It was the largest margin of victory in any skiing event since 1998, according to Matt Norlander of CBS Sports.
“Wait, I'm correcting this stat because it's even more outrageous: Shiffrin's 1.50-second margin of victory is the largest in ANY alpine skiing event — men or women's — at the Olympics since 1998. Today was an exorcism,” Norlander wrote on Bluesky.
MIKAELA SHIFFRIN DOES IT.
GOLD.
Shiffrin wins her first Olympic 🥇in 12 years and ends her drought after eight straight OLY races without a podium.
A massive outcome for Shiffrin—the most decorated skier in history. A beautiful ski and wonderful moment. pic.twitter.com/o3jPhFwVc3
— Matt Norlander (@MattNorlander) February 18, 2026
“Mikaela Shiffrin wins the slalom gold medal by 1.50 seconds If you add up the winning margins of the winners at the 1998, 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014, 2018, and 2022 women's slalom, you get 1.51 seconds,” a user wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
This makes it Shiffrin's second gold in the Olympic slalom and third overall, which ties her with snowboarder Shaun White and bobsledder Kaillie Humphries for second-most golds by a U.S. Winter Olympian. This is also Shiffrin's fourth Olympic medal, tying her with Julia Mancuso for most by a U.S. woman in Alpine skiing.
In total, the American woman finished the 2026 Milano Cortina Olympics with three Alpine skiing medals, which matches their second-most at a single Winter Games. It was a good year for the women, and the hope is that they can come back in four years and do the same thing.
