US skier Mikaela Shiffrin won gold in the women's slalom at the Milan-Cortina Winter Games on Wednesday, securing her third Olympic title. The 30-year-old ended an eight-year medal drought since the 2018 Pyeongchang Games. Her victory highlights her record as the most successful World Cup skier with 108 wins.
Mikaela Shiffrin, already a two-time Olympic gold medalist, delivered a strong performance in the women's slalom to claim her third Olympic title across four Winter Games. This win at the Milan-Cortina Games broke her medal drought, which had persisted since the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics, following earlier disappointments in the team combined and giant slalom events at these Games.
Shiffrin's career is marked by remarkable resilience. She debuted on the World Cup circuit in March 2011, shortly before turning 16, and secured her first podium in December that year. Her initial World Cup victory came in December 2012 at age 17. In 2013, she won slalom gold at the world championships in Schladming, Austria, remarking afterward, "It's been 17 years in the making. Everyone says it comes so fast but it seems like it's been forever for me."
Her first Olympic gold arrived in the slalom at the 2014 Sochi Games. Despite challenges, including the unexpected death of her father Jeff in 2020, which kept her off the slopes for over 300 days, Shiffrin rebounded strongly. At the 2021 world championships in Cortina, she surpassed Ted Ligety and Lindsey Vonn to become the US skier with the most world titles (six at that time) and medals (11).
Shiffrin now holds eight world titles and an all-time record 108 World Cup victories, exceeding Ingemar Stenmark's previous mark of 87. Stenmark commented, "She's much better than I was. You cannot compare." International Ski Federation president Johan Eliasch noted of her World Cup record, "There will always be somebody. It's just a question of when. But that might take a very long time."
This slalom gold makes Shiffrin the second woman to win two Olympic slalom titles, following Switzerland's Vreni Schneider in 1994 and 1998.
