Paula Moltzan of Charlemont, Massachusetts, and teammate Jacqueline Wiles earned a bronze medal for the United States in the women's team alpine skiing combined event at the 2026 Winter Olympics. Their combined time of 2:21.91 edged out fellow Americans Breezy Johnson and Mikaela Shiffrin by just 0.06 seconds on February 10 at the Tofane Alpine Skiing Centre. The victory marks Moltzan's first Olympic medal.
The women's team alpine combined event at the Milano-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics combined downhill and slalom runs, testing speed and precision across disciplines. On February 10, Jacqueline Wiles tackled the downhill portion, clocking 1:37.04 for the fourth-fastest time. Paula Moltzan followed with the slalom leg, posting 44.87 seconds, also the fourth quickest in the field.
Their total of 2:21.91 secured bronze, behind gold medalists Ariane Raedler and Katharina Huber of Austria and silver winners Kira Weidle-Winkelmann and Emma Aicher of Germany. The narrow margin over Johnson and Shiffrin highlighted the event's competitiveness, with Shiffrin's 15th-place slalom finish proving decisive.
Moltzan, 31, described the tension during Wiles' run: “I was freaking out the whole time. I was talking to her as if she could hear me. ‘C’mon Jackie, you’ve got this.’ I was shaking. I was sweating.” Reflecting afterward on NBC’s “Today” program, she added, “I feel like actually after getting a medal with Jackie, I can take a deep breath and really just like focus on my competition and think about how the skiing is going to go and let go of the fact that the medal pressure is not really there anymore.”
This bronze is Moltzan's first Olympic podium. At her second Games—following Beijing 2022, where she placed eighth in slalom, 12th in giant slalom and fourth in the team event—she also competed individually in Cortina d'Ampezzo. On February 18, she finished eighth in slalom, 2.19 seconds behind Shiffrin's gold-medal time of 1:39.10. In giant slalom on February 15, Moltzan was 15th, 1.27 seconds off Federica Brignone's winning 2:13.50.
Originally from Minnesota, Moltzan joined the U.S. Ski Team at 17, won an NCAA slalom championship at the University of Vermont in 2017 and relocated to Charlemont in 2015. The medal returns to western Massachusetts, where she trains and engages with local skiers.
