Mikaela Shiffrin struggles in slalom; Austria wins Alpine combined

CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy — Austrians Ariane Raedler and Katharina Huber won gold in the women’s combined alpine team on Tuesday at the Milan-Cortina Olympics after Mikaela Shiffrin finished 15th in the slalom portion of the event.

Shiffrin’s teammate Breezy Johnson finished first in the downhill portion, but Shiffrin’s performance in the slalom pushed the duo into fourth place.

Germany’s Kira Weidle-Winkelmann and Emma Aicher won silver and the American duo of Jackie Wiles and Paula Moltzan won the bronze medal.

Johnson held up his end of the bargain. Two days after winning gold in the women’s downhill, she completed the same Olimpia della Tofane course in 1:36.59 to set the fastest time in the downhill portion of the event.

This put teammate Shiffrin in a prime position to anchor the United States in the slalom portion, which took place on the same slope. But Shiffrin had a tentative performance and finished with a time of 45.38 seconds in a race in which 10 skiers failed to finish. Johnson and Shiffrin were 0.31 seconds behind the winners.

“I haven’t really found a comfort level that allows me to produce at full speed,” Shiffrin said. “So I’m going to have to learn what to do, what to adjust in the little time we have before the other tech races.

“I want to be careful not to make excuses because it’s not really an excuse. … I’ve been so prepared for all the slaloms this year. So there’s something to learn from this day. And I’m going to learn it.”

Bronze medalists Jackie Wiles, left, and Paula Moltzan bite their bronze medals while celebrating on the podium.

(Julien Finney/Getty Images)

Shiffrin, the most decorated skier in history, earned her 108th career World Cup victory in December and captured her ninth career Crystal Globe, awarded to racers who win titles throughout the season on the World Cup circuit. This set a record for the most world titles in a discipline won by an individual athlete. That surpassed Lindsey Vonn and Ingemar Stenmark, both with eight.

Shiffin, however, did not win a medal in any of the six races she competed in at the 2022 Beijing Games, having won two gold medals and a silver in her two previous Olympic appearances.

Wiles finished fourth in the downhill session, 0.45 seconds behind the leader, allowing Moltzan, who clocked 44.87 in the slalom, to finish 0.25 seconds behind first overall.

Isabella Wright, also American, missed the second gate and did not complete the descent, ending the day for her and Nina O’Brien, who was supposed to race in the afternoon.

“Definitely disappointed,” Wright said. “I especially feel bad for my teammate, Nina. That’s definitely the hardest part. I was really looking forward to cheering her on in the slalom.”