Mikaela Shiffrin of the United States claimed gold in the women's slalom at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, by a margin of 1.50 seconds. The victory marked her third Olympic gold medal and her first since 2018, following an eight-year medal drought. Shiffrin reflected emotionally on the win, sharing thoughts about her late father, Jeff.
Mikaela Shiffrin dominated the women's slalom race on February 19, 2026, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, finishing 1.50 seconds ahead of silver medalist Camille Rast of Switzerland. Anna Swenn Larsson took bronze. This win made Shiffrin the first American skier to secure three Olympic gold medals in Alpine events, adding to her 2014 Sochi slalom victory and her 2018 Pyeongchang medals.
Shiffrin, who holds the record with 108 World Cup wins, had faced challenges leading up to the Olympics. She placed 11th in the giant slalom and missed a team combined medal after a slow slalom run. Her performance came after overcoming serious crashes, including one at the end of 2024 that led to mental challenges and post-traumatic stress disorder. In 2022, she left the Beijing Games without a medal despite high expectations.
After the race, Shiffrin described racing in a 'spiritual state' and called the moment 'like being born again.' She fought back tears while hugging her mother and coach, Eileen, and spoke about her father, Jeff, who died in February 2020 at age 65 in an accident at the family home in Colorado. 'This was a moment I have dreamed about — I’ve also been very scared of this moment,' Shiffrin said. 'Everything in life that you do after you lose someone you love is like a new experience. And I still have so many moments where I resist this. I don’t want to be in life without my dad. And maybe today was the first time that I could actually accept this, like, reality.'
The margin of victory was the largest in any Olympic Alpine skiing event since 1998 and the third biggest in women's slalom history. Shiffrin also reflected on her growth, saying after the giant slalom, 'When I think about where I was last year I was like, ‘I don’t know, maybe I’ll never race again.’ So here we are in a totally different position.'
