Mikaela Shiffrin enters the women's slalom at the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics as the overwhelming favorite, seeking to end an eight-year medal drought. The American skier, with 71 World Cup slalom victories, finished fourth in the team combined and 11th in the giant slalom earlier in the Games. This event on February 18 in Cortina d'Ampezzo represents her last opportunity for hardware.
Mikaela Shiffrin, the most successful Alpine skier in World Cup history with 108 overall victories—including 71 in slalom—arrives at the women's slalom on February 18 as her final chance for a medal at the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics. The 30-year-old American has dominated the discipline this season, winning seven of eight races and securing her ninth season-long slalom title. Her only non-win was a second-place finish to Switzerland's Camille Rast in Kranjska Gora.
Shiffrin's Olympic journey in Italy has been challenging so far. In the team combined event, she and teammate Breezy Johnson placed fourth after Johnson set the fastest downhill time; Shiffrin's 15th-place slalom run—her worst completed finish in the discipline since 2012—cost them a podium spot, finishing just six hundredths of a second behind bronze medalists Jackie Wiles and Paula Moltzan. In the giant slalom on February 15, Shiffrin ended 11th, three-tenths of a second off the podium in a highly competitive field won by Italy's Federica Brignone.
Reflecting on her performances, Shiffrin noted mental and technical hurdles. “There were a lot of turns where I was quite quick on the team combined day, and a handful where I missed. There was just a misalignment, and it was a combination of course setting, equipment, and conditions, and then my mentality was not matching the day,” she said. For the slalom, she added, “I’m kind of going into it with my eyes open that we can see a very similar situation, and I will try to handle it differently in my head.”
Shiffrin's Olympic medals include gold in slalom at Sochi 2014 and giant slalom at Pyeongchang 2018, plus silver in the 2018 combined. Beijing 2022 brought no hardware, with three did-not-finishes in six starts. Rivals include Rast, the reigning world champion who beat Shiffrin once this season; Switzerland's Wendy Holdener, a five-time Olympic medalist; Austria's Katharina Truppe; and Germany's Emma Aicher. Petra Vlhova of Slovakia, the 2022 slalom gold medalist returning from a knee injury, also looms as a threat, saying of Shiffrin, “She’s strong and I believe she can make it.”
The race at Tofane Alpine Skiing Centre starts at 4 a.m. ET, with two runs determining the winner by combined time. Conditions are expected to be cold, with temperatures between 10 and 24 degrees Fahrenheit, following recent snowfall in the Dolomites. Organizers aim for a clean track on the zig-zaggy course, which suits Shiffrin's precise style.
