American star Mikaela Shiffrin cemented her place among the greats of alpine skiing as she won Olympic slalom gold in emphatic fashion.
Twelve years on from winning the title in Sochi aged 18, Shiffrin stormed to victory with an overall time of 1:39:10, an extraordinary 1.50 seconds ahead of second place to become a three-time Olympic champion.
The 30-year-old put herself in pole position with a time of 47.13secs in the first run at Olimpia delle Tofane, a gap of 0.82secs to second-place Lena Duerr.
The German was the only skier to finish within one second of Shiffrin but she straddled the first gate on her second run to put herself out of medal contention.
That left Shiffrin with what was ultimately an exhibition run to take gold and she completed the run in 51.97secs.
“Today I showed up for the skiing. I wanted to have two runs with really strong slalom skiing. Now to be through that is a little bit challenging to process,” she said.
“In the end, today, showing up – that was the thing I wanted most. More than the medal. Now, to also get to have a medal is unbelievable.”
Switzerland’s Camille Rast claimed silver while Sweden’s Anna Swenn Larsson took bronze.
Seven-time world champion Shiffrin appeared to be in disbelief as she initially crossed the line but eventually crouched on her skis with her head in her hands before fist pumping towards the crowd.
Although the margin of victory this time was significant, things had not gone to plan for her until now in Cortina.
She finished 11th in the giant slalom and an agonising fourth in the team event alongside Olympic downhill champion Breezy Johnson.
In fact, since her giant slalom gold in Pyeongchang 2018, which followed slalom gold in Sochi 2014, the Olympics have simply not been a happy hunting ground for Shiffrin.
Four years ago in Beijing she crashed out of both the giant slalom and slalom events just seconds into her run, completing six races but returning home without a medal.
But the most decorated alpine skier of all time cruised to victory this time and put years of Olympic anguish behind her to deliver on the big stage.
‘Revenge’ for Shiffrin
Shiffrin arrived in Cortina with significant pressure on her shoulders as the heavy favourite.
This season she has won seven of eight slalom World Cup races and finished second in the other to seal the overall title with races to spare.
Her 108 World Cup race wins make her the world’s most successful alpine skier while she has featured on the podium a further 58 times and won the overall title five times.
Pressure has only intensified after she missed medal chances in the team and giant slalom events, heaping expectation on Wednesday’s slalom as her last opportunity to reach the podium at this Games.
But in her favoured event, where she has 71 World Cup race wins, the most by any alpine skier in any discipline, she not only delivered but wiped out the competition.
“I wanted to be free, I wanted to unleash. It’s not easy to do that, but I’ve been so focused every single day,” she said after her win.
“Through a lot of discussions with my psychologist and my mom and my team, everything we said was that, despite pressure or nerves, I want to feel this skiing.”
Four years ago things were different and Shiffrin has spoken openly about her mental health since she blanked at Beijing 2022.
Following the loss of her father in 2020, she suffered with memory issues, meaning she struggled to remember courses in the build up to the Games.
Then, on the brink of her 100th World Cup win in December 2024 she sustained a puncture wound and muscle damage to her stomach when she crashed out of a race in Killington, somersaulting into the safety nets.
That injury, which she described as “gross and weird”, left her struggling with visions of crashing and a fear of doing it again.
But in Cortina, spectators were treated to a Shiffrin who appears back to her very best.
Former British alpine skier Chemmy Alcott said: “It wasn’t redemption, it was revenge. So many critics say ‘she chokes in the Olympics’ and it is the worst narrative ever. They forget what she went through two years ago.
“She just did her thing. She didn’t have to be special, she just had to be herself.”
