Mikaela Shiffrin Finishes Outside Top 10 In Giant Slalom As Her Olympic Woes Continue

CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy — What’s down her has been good documented — nan Olympic disappointments, nan clang that astir ended her profession — but it was what unfurled successful beforehand of her Sunday that transfixed Mikaela Shiffrin.

She saw it while opinionated successful nan commencement gross astatine Tofane Alpine Ski Centre, nan Olympic giant-slalom people successful nan foreground and nan Dolomites successful nan region truthful majestic they almost look fake.

“You’re opinionated location and you tin spot nan full GS people laid retired successful beforehand of you,” said Shiffrin, who has won much World Cup races (108) than anyone successful history. “It conscionable goes down, down, down, down. ... Normally pinch GS, you spot nan first 10 turns, nan first 8 turns. It’s uncommon that you spot nan full people laid up of you.

“It’s this really cool emotion that I cognize what’s coming, I’m going to push and gain this. And I wanted to gain it pinch my skiing.”

That portion remains a activity successful progress. Shiffrin vanished 11th successful nan elephantine slalom, nan champion of nan 4 Americans but a mixed 0.92 seconds down victor Frederica Brignone of Italy, whose ascendant capacity successful nan greeting mixed pinch a much mortal day was bully capable for gold.

The section crowd shouted loudly for Brignone, who won golden successful nan super-G 3 days earlier and has made a singular comeback from a devastating clang successful nan Italian championships 10 months ago. She suffered a tear successful her anterior cruciate ligament and aggregate fractures of her calf and tibial plateau.

“I’ve been successful therapy for 8 aliases much months, and started skiing conscionable to spot if I could ski,” Brignone said. “It was time by day. We were trying caller things. My mantra was, `Tomorrow is better, for sure.’ It has been really hard. For 5 months I didn’t moreover locomotion correctly. Then I started getting amended and better.”

Giant slalom golden medalist Federica Brignone of Italy, center, celebrates connected nan podium pinch metallic medalists Sara Hector of Sweden, left, and Thea Louise Stjernesund of Norway connected Sunday.

(Jacquelyn Martin / Associated Press)

She said a cardinal to her occurrence was she felt nary unit and nary lofty expectations heading into nan Games.

“I deliberation if I was coming present to make golden medals, I’d make nary medals,” she said. “It’s a occurrence to beryllium here, to transportation nan flag. This was 1 of nan biggest things that I was missing successful my life. Not nan golden medal. I didn’t care. I had medals. I had World Cups. I had everything that I wanted, moreover much successful my life. So I came present conscionable to bask and effort my best, and beryllium grateful to beryllium present astatine nan location Olympics.”

In a bizarre twist, Sweden’s Sara Hector and Norway’s Thea Louise Stjernesund skied identical times — down to nan hundredth of a 2nd — successful nan greeting and day to necktie for silver. Therefore, nary bronze was awarded.

Behind Shiffrin were U.S. teammates Paula Moltzan (15th), Nina O’Brien (20th), and A.J. Hurt, who did not decorativeness aft missing a gross successful nan greeting session.

With nan women’s slalom coming Wednesday, nan results person been mostly disappointing for Shiffrin, who was looking to bounce backmost from a disastrous capacity astatine nan Beijing Olympics 4 years ago. Then, she was a favourite but went 0 for 6 connected podiums and grounded to transverse nan decorativeness statement 3 times. Her champion individual consequence was ninth successful nan super-G.

Although she has 22 World Cup elephantine slalom wins — much than anyone — Shiffrin endured a agelong barren spell successful nan discipline. She didn’t person a top-three consequence betwixt January 2024 — erstwhile she was runner up astatine nan title successful Slovakia — until her third-place decorativeness successful Czechia past month. She grounded to scope nan podium successful her 11 races successful between.

That said, since nan extremity of 2025, she has been steadily improving, going from sixth to 5th to 4th to 3rd successful World Cup finishes starring into nan Olympics.

U.S. skier Mikaela Shiffrin competes successful nan elephantine slalom Sunday astatine nan Milan-Cortina Olympic Games.

(Christophe Pallot / Agence Zoom / Getty Images)

“I’m really proud of nan progression,” she said aft Sunday’s race. “To get backmost into nan apical 7 successful GS earlier nan Olympics, that seemed for illustration a really challenging task, particularly astatine nan opening of nan season.”

Shiffrin is besides dealing pinch nan post-traumatic accent of an mishap successful a World Cup elephantine slalom title successful Killington, Vt., successful Nov. 2024. She suffered a puncture coiled successful that mishap — though it’s unclear what caused it — and astir sustained a lacerated colon.

In an article successful “The Players’ Tribune” past May, she wrote: “I’d get these random flashes successful my mind. These really grim images. I’d beryllium anticipating crashes. I’d spot them successful my head. See myself falling and going down. The symptom would flash done my body, only this time, it was my cervix too. My leg. My colon.

“We’d beryllium training location successful Europe, and successful a quiet moment, randomly, wholly unexpected, I’d benignant of ideate nan mechanics of nan clang I had astatine Killington ... but conscionable transferred to this caller place. I’d spot it happening connected nan people up of me, connected nan upland scope that I was looking down at.”

Sunday was a different position of a European upland range. A much hopeful view. The measurement she sounded aft nan race, that’s bully capable for now.