Mikaela Shiffrin Breaks 8-Year Olympic Medal Drought With Gold Medal Win

Mikaela Shiffrin ended her eight-year Olympic medal drought when she won gold during her third and final event at the 2026 Winter Olympics. On Wednesday, Feb. 18, the alpine skier came out on top at the end of the women’s slalom race, which consists of two runs, finishing with a combined time that landed her 1.5 seconds ahead of Switzerland’s Camille Rast. Shortly after the competition, she took to Instagram to express her emotions. “I won! I got there, in the face of fear and adrenaline and the potential for criticism and backlash from people who know nothing and don’t even try to understand. I won. I stood in the start gate, and looked out at the mountain and the course ahead and my heartbeat nearly fell out of my butt. Still, when the countdown started, I pushed. I pushed to chase, I pushed to earn. I pushed to dare and to dream. I pushed to believe. I won,” she wrote in part. The U.S. athlete first earned a gold medal in slalom at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics when she was just 18 years old – becoming the youngest skier to ever win it. While she also received medals in the 2018 Olympics, she fell short in 2022.