Mikaela Shiffrin’s Gold Medal: The Road To Redemption
At exactly the moment when a few billion armchair coaches all leaned in to watch, Mikaela Shiffrin leaned forward—and won. Not narrowly. She won by a “Grand Canyon” mile.
CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, ITALY – FEBRUARY 18: Gold medalist Mikaela Shiffrin of Team United States poses for a photo with a flag after the medal ceremony following the Women’s Slalom Run on day twelve of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics at Tofane Alpine Skiing Centre on February 18, 2026 in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
Getty Images
On February 18, 2026, at the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics, Shiffrin delivered what had to be for her one of the most emotionally satisfying victories in her storied career, capturing gold in the slalom with a combined time of 1:39.10, and defeating Switzerland’s Camille Rast by a staggering 1.50 seconds—the largest margin in Olympic Alpine skiing since 1998.
For context, 1.50 seconds in Olympic slalom is less a victory than a massacre. And for Shiffrin, it was something else entirely: a redemption.
US’ Mikaela Shiffrin competes in the second run of the FIS Alpine Skiing women’s World Cup 2025-2026 slalom in Courchevel, French Alps, on December 16, 2025. (Photo by Jeff PACHOUD / AFP via Getty Images)
AFP via Getty Images
The Comeback Nobody Could Manufacture
The Olympics are where an athletes’ historic performance becomes irrelevant. This is partly a function of the “bright lights” of an event that only occurs every four years. That and the fact that in the Olympics an athlete is no longer competing just for himself or herself; He or she is also racing for country. The glare of the media—all media—can be overwhelming. A whole different level of expectations and pressure. And for eight years, Shiffrin, like many others—arguably the greatest alpine skier in history—had been forced to confront that truth.
Shiffrin had burst into this global phenomenon called the Olympic Games in 2014 in Sochi, winning slalom gold at the ripe old age of 18, becoming the youngest Olympic slalom champion ever. Four years later in PyeongChang, she added giant slalom gold and combined silver, reinforcing her Olympic legacy.
SOCHI, RUSSIA – FEBRUARY 22: Gold medalist Mikaela Shiffrin of the United States celebrates during the medal ceremony for the Women’s Slalom on Day 15 of the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics at Medals Plaza on February 22, 2014 in Sochi, Russia. (Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)
Getty Images
But then came the unthinkable: She failed to medal in Beijing in 2022. This was followed by a traumatic crash in 2024 that punctured her abdomen and rattled her confidence. She also had endured the devastating loss of her father in 2020—a psychological blow deeper than any fall.
And suddenly, the most decorated woman alpine skier in history, with her 95th World Cup victory just five days before the crash, was facing uncertainty and questioning herself like never before. Her story is not uncommon. Sometimes, for lots of reasons, even the greatest athletes can fall apart.
KILLINGTON, VERMONT – NOVEMBER 30: Mikaela Shiffrin of the United States is taken off the course by ski patrol after a crash during the second run of the Women’s Giant Slalom during the STIFEL Killington FIS World Cup race at Killington Resort on November 30, 2024 in Killington, Vermont. (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images)
Getty Images
Slalom Is Shiffrin’s Native Language
Slalom is not just Shiffrin’s event, it’s the air she breathes. It is the pursuit she was made for. She has more World Cup slalom wins than any skier in history, male or female. Her first run in Cortina gave her a commanding lead. Her second run delivered the knock out blow. All of us watching her noticed something unmistakable: control. There was nothing the least bit desperate or rushed about her entire race. Not one moment. Her skiing was calm, cool and controlled.
CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, ITALY – FEBRUARY 18: Mikaela Shiffrin of Team United States competes during the Women’s Slalom Run on day twelve of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics at Tofane Alpine Skiing Centre on February 18, 2026 in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy. (Photo by Christophe Pallot/Agence Zoom/Getty Images)
Getty Images
She wasn’t racing against Rast, Swenn-Larsson, or anyone else. She was racing against herself; Against fear, uncertainty and doubt. This was an “inside job.” The enemy was between her ears. And she defeated it.
With that victory, Shiffrin became the first American alpine skier—male or female—to win three Olympic gold medals.
Machine And Human: Shiffrin Is Both
Slalom racing at Olympic levels can best be described as elegant bordering on violent.
Skiers hurtle down courses at speeds of 40-50 miles per hour while threading gates separated by fractions of seconds. One mistake–a late turn or a slight over lean—separates those at the top of the podium from those who fail to make the top ten.
USA’s Mikaela Shiffrin competes in the slalom run of the women’s team combined event during the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games at the Tofane Alpine Skiing Centre in Cortina d’Ampezzo on February 10, 2026. (Photo by Marco BERTORELLO / AFP via Getty Images)
AFP via Getty Images
What separates Shiffrin from other elite skiers in such an environment is her efficiency. She wastes nothing. Her turns are economical. Her body movements are minimal. Often she can best be described as a machine.
And yet, off the mountain, she remains very personable. She jokes. She questions herself out loud. She is refreshingly vulnerable. She is human.
The Longest Twelve Years
The gold medal in Cortina came twelve years after her first Olympic slalom gold—a gap unprecedented in Olympic alpine skiing. It also made her both the youngest and oldest American woman to win Olympic alpine gold. The victory, of course, also ended an eight-year Olympic medal drought and marked her first Olympic podium since 2018.
USA’s winner Mikaela Shiffrin poses on the podium during the victory ceremony for the women’s Giant Slalom at the Yongpyong Alpine Centre during the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympic Games in Pyeongchang on February 15, 2018. (Photo by Martin BERNETTI / AFP via Getty Images)
AFP via Getty Images
The Burden of Being the Greatest
It is both being great and being expected to be great that is exhausting. And being expected to be great every time you show up is impossible. That is Shiffrin’s (and every other dominant athlete’s) reality.
She entered every race as the favorite. When she won it became merely a confirmation. She was expected to win. When she lost, or even struggled to win, it was analyzed, dissected, and discussed by the media and people who have never stepped into her ski boots.
CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, ITALY – FEBRUARY 10: Mikaela Shiffrin of Team United States reacts with her team mate after skiing in the Slalom during the Women’s Team Combined on day four of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics at Tofane Alpine Skiing Centre on February 10, 2026 in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy. (Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images)
Getty Images
So Cortina offered something rare. Redemption. She proved something not to the world, but more importantly to herself. She still belonged.
This Gold Medal Matters More
Her first Olympic gold in 2014 was explosive. Her second in 2018 was dominant.
But this one, in 2026, was earned differently. It was earned through grief, injury and doubt. This gold medal was not a byproduct of inevitability. In spite of all the downside risk Shiffrin chose to come back. She chose to risk failure. She chose to stand in the start gate again. She had to make those choices again and again just to make Cortina possible.
Great athletes often face a strange fate: they can become monuments, frozen in time, before they finish their careers. They continue to compete while the media refer to them in the past tense, using highlight reels. They become defined by past versions of themselves. Shiffrin refused to accept that fate. She evolved.
USA’s Mikaela Shiffrin competes in the second run of the women’s slalom event during the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games at the Tofane Alpine Skiing Centre in Cortina d’Ampezzo on February 18, 2026. (Photo by Tiziana FABI / AFP via Getty Images)
AFP via Getty Images
Her skiing became not just fast, but patient. She mined within herself new depths of resilience. And now with three Olympic gold medals and four total Olympic medals, she stands alone as the most decorated American alpine skier in Olympic history.
Ironically her career may still be unfinished.
At the bottom of the course in Cortina, after crossing the finish line, Shiffrin didn’t scream. She didn’t pound her chest. She exhaled.
Relief defined that moment. She was racing not just against the clock, but against everything that had happened since she was 18 years old and seemingly invincible. When Shiffrin crossed that line, she didn’t just win gold.
She won peace of mind too
CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, ITALY – FEBRUARY 18: Mikaela Shiffrin of Team United States wins the gold medal during the Women’s Slalom Run on day twelve of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics at Tofane Alpine Skiing Centre on February 18, 2026 in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy. (Photo by Agence Zoom/Agence Zoom/Getty Images)
Getty Images
.
