Mikaela Shiffrin Strikes Slalom Gold in Emotional Winter Olympics Finale

The 30-year-old alpine skier is now the only American in the competition’s history to hold three Olympic gold medals.

United States' Mikaela Shiffrin shows her gold medal of the alpine ski women's slalom race at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Ital on Feb. 18, 2026. Robert F. Bukaty/AP Photo

Alpine skier Mikaela Shiffrin’s gold medal in the women’s slalom at the Milan Cortina Winter Games ended a years-long Olympics drought, putting her back on the podium as the most decorated American alpine skier in history.

Shiffrin, 30, recorded a total time of 1:39.10 in the Feb. 18 event, with a remarkable 1.50 seconds margin of victory, the largest in any Olympic Alpine skiing event since 1998.

“This ...  feels like a really big moment,” Shiffrin told NBC’s Cara Banks after the race. “Honestly, the skiing is what I cared about. Of course a medal and gold, that’s a dream come true. But at some point this week, I just said, like, stop dreaming. Just ski.

“This whole time, [I’ve been] waiting for two times, 45 seconds today to be able to ski. And I’m so happy to be able to do the right thing in the right moment.”

The feat made Shiffrin the only American in Alpine skiing history to hold three Olympic gold medals. She previously held the record with retired alpine racer Ted Ligety and the late Andrea Mead Lawrence.

This is the first medal for the Olympian since winning silver at the 2018 Olympics in Pyeongchang, and the fourth total of her career. The defining moment had her reflecting on her father, Jeff, who died in 2020 after an accident at their 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. It’s like being born again.

“And I still have so many moments where I resist this. I don’t want to be in life without my dad,” she said. “And maybe today was the first time that I could actually accept this, like, reality.”

Switzerland’s Camille Rast came in second, securing the silver medal, first of her career. Anna Swenn-Larsson of Sweden earned the bronze medal and, at age 34, became the oldest medalist ever to compete in the Olympic slalom.

At the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, Shiffrin became the youngest slalom gold medalist in Olympic history. Four years later, she added two more medals, cementing herself as a skiing star.

However, her path at the 2022 Beijing games proved more turbulent, failing to meet expectations as she “did not finish” three times during the slalom, giant slalom, and the now-defunct Alpine.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.