Mikaela Shiffrin is so back.
After failing to medal in her first two events at the 2026 Winter Olympics, the decorated alpine skier made a furious comeback in the women's slalom on Wednesday, when she not only earned a gold medal but flew far and away past the competition while doing so.
Although you might expect such great heights from an athlete of her caliber, especially in her best event, Shiffrin's success in Milan was far from guaranteed. In 2022, she left the Beijing Olympics empty-handed—a huge shock at the time—then found herself plagued with debilitating PTSD following a gnarly crash in 2024.
That she was able to capture slalom gold once again, a whopping 12 years after her first in the same event, is not only tangible proof that she still has it in her, but also brings an end to one of the more puzzling Olympic droughts in recent years.
Given the magnitude of the achievement, fellow ski legend Lindsey Vonn—currently recovering from a nasty injury suffered during her own Olympic comeback attempt—was quick to congratulate Shiffrin on a job well done:
"Huge congrats @mikaelashiffrin!!" Vonn wrote on her Instagram story, alongside a "Goat" emoji (a common shorthand for "Greatest of All Time").
Also on the social media well-wishers train was Team USA's Breezy Johnson, with whom Shiffrin competed in the women's team combined slalom. (Although Johnson's run put them in a good position, the pair did not medal).
"So proud of this lady!!!" Johnson, who won nonetheless gold in the women's downhill, wrote, alongside a photo of her and Shiffrin. "2x slalom champ!!!!"
And of course, Shiffrin's fiancé and Norwegian alpine skier Aleksander Aamodt Kilde got in on the action, too:
"She did it again," Kilde wrote on IG, resharing the same photo of Shiffrin as Vonn.
It's an onslaught of good vibes that couldn't be more warranted. And with the monkey finally off her back, Shiffrin now boasts the most alpine gold medals (3) of any American skier in history.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Lindsey Vonn, Breezy Johnson Congratulate Mikaela Shiffrin After Gold Slalom Run.
