Mikaela Shiffrin’s tumultuous 12-year Olympic journey came to a close on Wednesday when she won the slalom by a massive 1.50 seconds to break her long medal drought at the Winter Games.
Shiffrin produced two dominant runs in beautiful conditions amid the craggy peaks of the Dolomites, once again showing why many regard her as the greatest alpine skier of all time.
It was the third-largest margin of victory in women’s Olympic slalom, an event she won as a teenager in Sochi in 2014 that underlined her status as a skiing star.
Twelve years later, she performed again in her favorite race, and the emotions came out in the finish line as she was hugged by world champion Camille Rast of Switzerland, who won the silver medal, and Anna Sven Larsson of Sweden, the bronze medalist.
Shiffrin, 30, raised her fists to the crowd and fought back tears as she approached her mother and coach Allyn for a lengthy hug.
Shiffrin said her victory was “really hard to understand and process”.
“Maybe,” she added, “just today, I realized what happened in Sochi. It’s madness.”
For Shiffrin, perhaps it was also a release from all the pressure after failing to win an Olympic medal after adding gold and silver to her collection in Pyeongchang in 2018.
Breezy Johnson finished fourth on the team in Cortina d’Ampezzo after a bad 0-for-6 performance in Beijing, with Shiffrin finishing 15th in the slalom portion and 11th in the giant slalom.
Her first gold came in slalom as a young teenager in Sochi 12 years ago. She is the second skier (male or female) to win slalom gold twice at the Games, joining Switzerland’s Vreni Schneider (1988, ’94).
His third Olympic gold also gives him the most alpine skiing wins by an American skier.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
