Mikaela Shiffrin, the most successful racer in Alpine skiing history, ended her Olympic medal drought in spectacular fashion Wednesday, winning gold in women’s slalom at the Milan-Cortina Games.
Shiffrin won her third career Olympic gold medal by finishing 1.50 seconds ahead of silver medalist Camille Rast of Switzerland and 1.71 seconds over bronze medalist Anna Swenn Larsson of Sweden with a total time of 1:39.10 over two runs.
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Shiffrin used her sizable lead from the first run to earn her first Olympic gold medal since the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympic Games.
Mikaela Shiffrin reacts immediately after winning gold in women’s slalom Wednesday at the Milan-Cortina Olympic Games. (Ezra Shaw / Getty Images)
In the morning run, Shiffrin finally broke through with a strong performance. She skied the course in a smooth 47.13 seconds, 0.82 of a second faster than Germany’s Laura Duerr, who went just before her and briefly had the fastest run.
It was a classic performance by Shiffrin, who won gold in slalom at the Winter Games in Sochi in 2014 when she was just 18, making her the youngest Olympic champion in that event.
Her mother was watching from the finish line, and Shiffrin got a rousing ovation from the crowd when she finished her run.
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Shiffrin got off to a rough start in these Games. After U.S. teammate Breezy Johnson set her up with a first-place finish in the downhill, Shiffrin finished 15th in the slalom portion of the women’s combined and the Americans took fourth.
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In the giant slalom Sunday — an event where she won gold in 2018 — Shiffrin finished 11th, the best of the four Americans but a combined 0.92 seconds behind winner Frederica Brignone of Italy.
A four-time Olympian, Shiffrin came to Cortina with a chance to add to her three Olympic medals — two golds and one silver.
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Four years ago, she was a favorite in Beijing but went 0 for 6 on podiums and failed to cross the finish line three times. Her best individual result was ninth in the super-G.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
