Mikaela Shiffrin’s first competition of the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics didn’t go as planned.
Shiffrin, considered one of the greatest slalom skiers in Olympic history, stunningly came up short in the women’s team combined event on Tuesday. She was paired with Breezy Johnson on Team USA, a coupling that many prematurely called the “Dream Team” given both their accomplishments (Johnson clinched gold in the downhill earlier in the Games).
Despite Johnson gifting Shiffrin a small lead on her opening downhill leg, the American superstar struggled from the start of her run and placed 15th out of 18 with a time of 45.38. Her slalom run dropped the duo’s combined time to fourth place, causing Shiffrin and Johnson to miss the podium by a mere 0.06 seconds.
Another Team USA pair did, however, take home some silverware: Jacqueline Wiles and Paula Moltzan won bronze after a strong combined effort in both runs.
Shiffrin took to social media to congratulate her compatriots for their “deserved” win:
“Congrats, Jackie and Paula: you both deserve that so much!!” Shiffrin wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
Congrats, Jackie and Paula: you both deserve that so much!! 🤩🥳🥳 https://t.co/tio4NhKgFy
— Mikaela Shiffrin ⛷️ (@MikaelaShiffrin) February 10, 2026
Shiffrin, 30, has won seven of the eight slalom races contested in this past World Cup season and entered Tuesday’s event with high expectations. In her all-time great skiing career, 71 of her record 108 World Cup victories have come in slalom. Yet, Shiffrin looked a little slow out of the gate on her first big test of the Olympics and ultimately wasn’t able to capitalize off of her partner’s lead.
“I'm gonna call it ‘sweetbitter,’ rather than bittersweet, because we got to watch our teammates get a medal, which is incredible,” Shiffrin said. “And I am really happy to kick off my Olympics. It was such an honor to pair with Breezy and to watch her run of downhill this morning.”
She also refused to make any excuses for her uncharacteristically poor showing:
“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,” said Shiffrin.
Shriffin will now turn her focus onto her remaining two individual events in the Milan Cortina Games, the giant slalom and slalom.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Mikaela Shiffrin Shares Heartfelt Message After Not Medaling in Team Combined Event.
